Elementary Particle Physics - Experiment (EPP)

Particle physics plays an essential role in the broader enterprise of the physical sciences.  It inspires U.S. students, attracts talent from around the world, and drives critical intellectual and technological advances in other fields. And the field is entering an era of unprecedented potential as a result of new discoveries about matter and energy in the Universe.

The Particle Physics program seeks to explore the fundamental nature of matter, energy, space, and time.  It asks such questions as: What are the origins of mass? What is the nature of the Higgs boson? Can the basic forces of nature be unified?  How did the universe begin? How will it evolve in the future?  What are dark matter and dark energy? What can we learn from discovering that neutrinos have mass? Are there extra dimensions of space-time?  Formerly separate questions in cosmology (the universe on the largest scales) and quantum phenomena (the universe on the smallest scales) become connected through our understanding that the early universe can be explored through the techniques of particle physics.
 
At the NSF, particle physics is supported by four programs within the Division of Physics: (1) the Theory program, which includes fundamental research on the forces of nature and the early history of the universe as well as support for the experimental program by providing guidance and analysis for high energy experiments; (2) the Elementary Particle Physics (EPP) program, which supports particle physics at accelerators and advances in detector development; (3) the Particle Astrophysics (PA) program, which supports non-accelerator experiments; and (4) the new Accelerator Science program which supports research at universities into the educational and discovery potential of basic accelerator physics.

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Proposals to the Physics Division must be submitted through the Division of Physics: Investigator-Initiated Research Projects solicitation.

The solicitation follows most of the requirements in the Grant Proposal Guide, but has additional requirements that relate primarily to proposers who anticipate having multiple sources of support, and proposals involving significant instrumentation development. The solicitation also has deadlines instead of target dates.

All proposals submitted to the Physics Division that are not governed by another solicitation (such as CAREER) should be submitted to this solicitation; otherwise they will be returned without review.