DOE SC High Energy Physics FY2020 Research Opportunities

The DOE SC program in High Energy Physics (HEP) hereby invites new and renewal grant applications for support of research programs in high energy physics.

The mission of the HEP program is to understand how the universe works at its most fundamental level, which is done by discovering the elementary constituents of matter and energy, probing the interactions between them, and exploring the basic nature of space and time.

The scientific objectives and priorities for the field recommended by the High Energy Physics Advisory Panel (HEPAP) are detailed in its recent long-range strategic Particle Physics Project Prioritization Plan (P5), available at: https://science.osti.gov/~/media/hep/hepap/pdf/May-2014/FINAL_P5_Report_Interactive_060214.pdf.

The HEP program focuses on three (3) experimental scientific frontiers:

The Energy Frontier – where powerful accelerators are used to create new particles, reveal their interactions, and investigate fundamental forces;

The Intensity Frontier – where intense particle beams and highly sensitive detectors are used to pursue alternate pathways to investigate fundamental forces and particle interactions by studying events that occur rarely in nature, and to provide precision measurements of these phenomena; and

The Cosmic Frontier – where non-accelerator-based experiments observe the cosmos and detect cosmic particles, making measurements of natural phenomena that can provide information about the nature of dark matter, dark energy, and other fundamental properties of the universe that impact our understanding of matter and energy.

Together, these three interrelated and complementary discovery frontiers offer the opportunity to answer some of the most basic questions about the world around us. Also integral to the mission of HEP are three crosscutting research areas that enable new scientific opportunities by developing the necessary tools and methods for discoveries:

Theoretical High Energy Physics, where the vision and mathematical framework for understanding and extending the knowledge of particles, forces, space-time, and the universe are developed;

Accelerator Science and Technology Research and Development, where the technologies and basic science needed to design, build, and operate the accelerator facilities essential for making new discoveries are developed; and

Detector Research and Development, where the basic science and technologies needed to design and build the High Energy Physics detectors essential for making new discoveries are developed.