Accelerator Science

Particle accelerator systems have been key drivers for a broad array of fundamental discoveries and transformational scientific advances since the early 20th century. Since their inception, they have also been core components of U.S. technological innovation and economic competitiveness. The Accelerator Science program will support and foster research at universities that exploits the educational and discovery potential of basic accelerator physics research, and allows the development of transformational discoveries in this crosscutting academic discipline. In particular, this program seeks to support research with the potential to disrupt existing paradigms and advance accelerator science at a fundamental level, such as enabling discoveries that lead to novel, compact, powerful, and/or cost-effective accelerators. Key questions that this program will address include: what are the fundamental limitations affecting the acceleration, control, intensity, and quality of particle beams? What novel approaches can be employed to substantially increase accelerating gradients? How can developments in other fields lead to new approaches in accelerator science and beam physics? The goal of this program is to seed and support fundamental accelerator science at universities as an academic discipline, providing the foundation in knowledge and workforce upon which major advances in accelerator-driven technologies will be based. An important component of the program will be the support and training of the next generation of accelerator scientists, including students, postdoctoral researchers, and junior faculty, who will lead innovations in the field and will form the backbone of the nation's highly trained accelerator workforce.Proposals for experimental, theoretical, and/or simulation-based research are welcome. Priority will be given to those proposals that enable the discovery science supported by the MPS Division of Physics.