RUI: studying the strong nuclear force at augustana university

The National Science Foundation Division of Physics awarded Augustana University $175,000 on August 15, 2026, under the Mathematical and Physical Sciences program (CFDA 47.049) to continue nuclear physics research through July 31, 2029.

Augustana University's Nuclear Physics Group will develop an artificial intelligence chatbot and associated AI resources documenting the institutional knowledge of thousands of scientists who conducted experiments and produced physics at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The RHIC scientific program completed its mission in early 2026 after more than 25 years of providing collisions of heavy nuclei; the AI resources will enable future scientists to continue extracting scientific value from RHIC data. The project serves as real-world AI training for undergraduate students in preparation for careers utilizing artificial intelligence.

The group will analyze large datasets of proton-proton and gold-gold collisions collected in 2024 and 2025 as a member of the SPhenix collaboration at RHIC, measuring properties of the quark-gluon plasma that existed in the early universe. The group is also a member of the EPIC collaboration designing the detector for the future Electron-Ion Collider and will contribute workforce to building an electromagnetic calorimeter for measuring energy and position of scattered electrons in electron-proton and electron-nucleus collisions.

Performance occurs in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Abstract

This award continues the scientific program and laboratory at augustana university in sioux falls, south dakota devoted to studying the strong nuclear force, which is the force responsible for binding protons and neutrons in the nucleus of an atom and for energy generation in the sun. The scientific program at the relativistic heavy ION collider (rhic) at brookhaven national laboratory completed its science mission in early 2026 after over 25 years of providing collisions of heavy nuclei, like gold, to make way for the future electron-ION collider (EIC). The augustana nuclear physics group will be working with brookhaven scientists to create an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot and associated AI resources that will be used by future scientists using rhic data. The resources will contain the institutional knowledge and experience of the several thousand scientists that built experiments, took data, and produced physics at rhic. Such resources will ensure that rhic data will continue to impact science for years to come. This opportunity will give a real-world application of AI use as training for undergraduates in their future careers where AI will be utilized. The group is a member of the sphenix collaboration at rhic. Large datasets of proton-proton and gold+gold collisions were taken in 2024 and 2025, respectively. The group will analyze these collisions to measure properties of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP). The QGP is the state of matter of the early universe where temperatures were so high that protons and neutrons, which are made of quarks and gluons, could not exist. The group is also a member of the epic collaboration. The collaboration is designing the detector that will be at the EIC. The group will contribute workforce to building an electromagnetic calorimeter, which will be used to measure the energy and position of the scattered electron in electron-proton and electron nucleus collisions. Knowing that information about the electron will provide important constraints on the kinds of collisions the epic experiment will be measuring. The work is unique in south dakota and the region and provides physics and pre-engineering students opportunities to be technically trained. Students will gain practical skills such as AI and computer programming, analysis of large data sets, electrical engineering application, and mechanical engineering design. All of these skills are transferable to other vocations of interest to the student, the state, and the nation. Students will participate in weekly collaboration meetings, present at national conferences, and visit collaborating institutions. Students will build their communication skills, grow their professional network, put them in contact with potential graduate schools, and prepare them for 21ST-century technical jobs. This award will support the only laboratory in the state of south dakota dedicated to studying the strong nuclear force. The PI is member of the sphenix collaboration at the relativistic heavy ION collider (rhic) and epic collaboration at the electron ION collider (EIC), both at brookhaven national laboratory. Broadly the PI and his students have focused on using high momentum transfer (Q2) processes, specifically jets, to understand low-Q2 processes. Using sphenix 2024 p+p and 2025 AU+AU data, hadron-jet azimuthal correlations will be measured. Depending on how the jets are binned, these correlations can be sensitive to different aspects of parton energy loss in a quark-gluon plasma (QGP). The PI and students will also increase their participation in epic. The group will continue to help build the electron-going electromagnetic calorimeter, which is a lead tungstate crystal calorimeter with silicon photomultiplier readout. The group will participate at test beams at jefferson laboratory, performing quality assurance tests on production crystals, help with the light-tight wrapping, etc. Deep inelastic e+a collisions at the EIC can probe x < 10-3 and Q2 < 10 GEV2, which may be in the region where gluon saturation dominates gluon kinematics. The group will continue working on ways to increase the sensitivity of two-particle azimuthal correlations to the photon-gluon fusion process. The group will be working with a new collaboration at brookhaven developing artificial intelligence (AI)-enhanced tools for data preservation. A sophisticated chatbot that can recreate workflows for future analysis of rhic data is now possible. By leveraging large language models and retrieval-augmented generation and model context protocol, the knowledge of a collaboration can be captured. Beyond the physics deliverables, this work will have additional broader impacts. Being the single strong-force physics laboratory in the state of south dakota, students from the region have unique access to this kind of physics. Students that have worked in the group have gained valuable experience in mathematics, computer science, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering. There are former students who are either completing their engineering degrees or in the work force in a technical job in and around south dakota. The work in AI, data analysis, and detector testing work will give current students the same opportunities to be ready for current and future technical jobs. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.- subawards are not planned for this award.