The Standard Model of particle physics does an excellent job of describing many of the particles and fundamental forces comprising our universe, but it fails to match all our experimental observations, leaving some phenomena unexplained. Such is the goal of Beyond Standard Model (BSM) physics, which seeks to bridge many of these gaps. However, BSM interactions are quite difficult to observe owing to their rarity; if they weren't so rare, physicists likely would have seen and incorporated them into the Standard Model by now.
IsoDAR (Isotope Decay-at-Rest) is an experiment well-posed to hunt for many BSM phenomena by bringing together, for the first time, both a high intensity particle accelerator and a multi-kiloton-scale detector to an underground laboratory. This combination significantly enhances IsoDAR's statistics compared to related experiments, as well as opportunities to either pin down or provide evidence against many of the BSM physics proposed to explain discrepancies between the Standard Model and current experimental observations.
Among the variety of physics goals of IsoDAR, the experiment is exceptionally well-posed to search for sterile neutrinos via electron antineutrino disappearance, axion-like particles which may be generated by the copious number of photons produced in IsoDAR's target, and other rare particles thought to be dark matter candidates. In addition, IsoDAR is capable of making precision measurements of the Weinberg angle of the Standard Model by exploring neutrino scattering.
IsoDAR's impact on cyclotron development is hugely important, having applications in the production of medical isotopes used for medical imaging and radiotherapy treatments. Moreover, the research and development of the accelerator system also has important consequences for the engineering of fusion reactors.
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