Research on Gravitation and Quantum Fluctuation Phenomena

万有引力与量子涨落现象研究

• 批准号: 0855360
• 负责人: Lawrence Ford
• 金额: $ 24万
• 依托单位: Tufts University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-08-15 至 2012-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0855360&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Research; Gravitation; Quantum; Fluctuation; Phenomena

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). This project will involve theoretical studies of several topics relating to quantum fluctuations and gravitation. Particular attention will be paid to issues relating to the correlation and anti-correlation of fluctuations of the quantum stress tensor that describes, among other things, the local energy density in a quantum field. The topics to be investigated include the effects of quantum stress tensor fluctuation in cosmology, especially in inflationary models. Previous work by the PI and his collaborators has indicated that these effects may be able to slowly accumulate, and thereby have a potentially significant role in the evolution of the universe. This possibility will be further studied. A closely related topic is the search for the probability distribution for stress tensor fluctuations, which is of interest in inflationary models, including ones which explore the possibility of a "multiverse" much larger than the observable universe. Other aspects of this project will seek to propose new laboratory experiments looking for negative energy density and related "sub-vacuum" phenomena, where some quantity fluctuates below its usual value in empty space. The project will examine selected aspects of the Casimir force, especially its fluctuations, and of fluctuations in condensed matter systems. These topics are of interest both for their own sake, and as analog models to better understand quantum effects in gravity theory. This project is expected to have a broader impact through possible benefits to other fields of science, to education, and to technology. The insights and techniques of this work may be useful outside of the specific subfields of physics being investigated. The project will further education through the training of graduate students and by the involvement of faculty at primarily teaching institutions. It should also produce examples which can be used to explain some of the concepts of quantum theory and relativity to students on a variety of educational levels. The work on Casimir forces may eventually be useful in nanotechnology. A better knowledge of Casimir forces is likely to become important for the construction of small scale devices. Similarly, the study of quantum correlations in this project may have applications to quantum information and quantum computing.

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。该项目将涉及与量子涨落和引力有关的几个主题的理论研究。将特别注意与量子应力张量波动的相关性和反相关性有关的问题，该张量描述了量子场中的局部能量密度。研究的主题包括量子应力张量涨落在宇宙学中的作用，特别是在暴胀模型中的作用。PI和他的合作者以前的工作表明，这些效应可能会慢慢积累，从而在宇宙的演化中发挥潜在的重要作用。将进一步研究这种可能性。一个密切相关的主题是寻找应力张量涨落的概率分布，这在暴胀模型中很有意义，包括那些探索比可观测宇宙大得多的“多元宇宙”的可能性的模型。该项目的其他方面将寻求提出新的实验室实验，寻找负能量密度和相关的“亚真空”现象，其中一些量在真空中波动低于其通常值。该项目将研究卡西米尔力的选定方面，特别是其波动以及凝聚态系统的波动。这些主题都是有趣的，因为它们本身，并作为模拟模型，以更好地理解量子效应在引力理论。预计该项目将通过对其他科学、教育和技术领域的可能惠益产生更广泛的影响。这项工作的见解和技术可能是有用的物理学的特定子领域之外正在调查。该项目将通过培训研究生和主要教学机构的教员的参与来促进教育。它还应该产生的例子，可以用来解释一些概念的量子理论和相对论的学生在各种教育水平。关于卡西米尔力的工作最终可能在纳米技术中有用。更好地了解卡西米尔力可能对小型设备的建造变得重要。同样，该项目中的量子相关性研究可能会应用于量子信息和量子计算。