Research in High Energy Theoretical Physics

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Research will be carried out in two subfields of theoretical elementary particle physics. One project will deal with string theory, the most promising candidate for the unification of all the fundamental interactions in nature. Particular attention is paid to models that can be exactly solved to extract physical insights and to apply them to the real world. The strategy is to search for exact relations between apparently different models, which will be then used to solve more difficult and realistic models. This project will also investigate the theoretical basis of novel phenomena in materials physics, observed in interfaces at high magnetic field. The phenomena of interest are associated with a class or quantum statistic, extending ideas associated with researchers such as Bose, Einstein, Fermi and Dirac. Understanding the theoretical basis for the rich variety of complex phenomena in the behavior of materials strengthens our ability to develop new materials and applications. A second project will continue first principle studies of quantum chromodynamics (the theory of the strong nuclear interactions) through the use of high performance computer simulations. Emphasis is to be placed on testing and refining improved methods of computation that promise to extend dramatically the power of numerical simulation at a vastly reduced computational cost. The new methods will make it possible, starting from experimental results, to extract the most precise information to date about the fundamental interactions in nature. They will also be used to explore the high temperature phase transition between quarks and gluons confined in nuclear particles such as nucleons and the free quark-gluon plasma. Such a phase transition occurred in the evolution of the early universe and is thought to be achievable in the laboratory in collisions of heavy ions at the RHIC accelerator currently under construction at the Brookhaven National Laboratory. These studies are important for extending our understanding of the most fundamental basis of our physical world and of the origins of our universe. Ideas concerning new computational methods are likely to have applications in other computational fields.