Physics: Theory of Elementary Particles

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9514797 Hall This proposal deals with a wide range of problems in high energy theoretical physics, but there are several themes. One avenue is to explore new formulations of the basic tools of quantum field theory with which one describes the interactions of elementary particles. Possible generalizations are proposed and some new facets of string theory are considered as well. String theory is an attempt to arrive at a unified description of all interactions including gravity. There are formidable mathematical obstacles in obtaining such a formulation: some of these are addressed in the proposal. A second avenue is to attempt a more phenomenological description of the interactions of elementary particles, in particular incorporating supersymmetry, the proposed but as of yet unobserved symmetry between bosons and fermions. Several models are discussed and their predictions for high energy experiments are detailed. The links between phenomenological models and underlying string theories are another subject of this proposal as are the predictions of models for phenomena in the early universe and for cosmology. ***