High Energy Physics

ABOUT High Energy Physics (HEP) explores what the world is made of and how it works at the smallest and largest scales, seeking new discoveries from the tiniest particles to the outer reaches of space. This quest inspires young minds, trains an expert workforce, and drives innovation that improves the nation’s health, wealth, and security. Our research is inspired by some of the biggest questions about our universe. What is it made of? What forces govern it? How did become the way it is today? Finding these answers requires the combined efforts some of the largest scientific collaborations in the world, using some of the most sensitive detectors in the world, at some of the largest scientific machines in the world. We support U.S. researchers that play leading roles in these international efforts and world-leading facilities at our National Laboratories that make this science possible. We also develop new accelerator, detector, and computational tools to open new doors to discovery science, and through Accelerator Stewardship, work to make transformational accelerator technology widely available to science and industry. MISSION The mission of the High Energy Physics (HEP) program is to understand how our universe works at its most fundamental level. We do this by discovering the most elementary constituents of matter and energy, exploring the basic nature of space and time itself, and probing the interactions between them. These fundamental ideas are at the heart of physics and hence all of the physical sciences. To enable these discoveries, HEP supports theoretical and experimental research in both elementary particle physics and fundamental accelerator science and technology. HEP underpins and advances the DOE missions and objectives through this research, and by the development of key technologies and trained manpower needed to work at the cutting edge of science.