Fundamental Physics and Cosmology

基础物理学和宇宙学

• 批准号: 0855447
• 负责人: Alexander Vilenkin
• 金额: $ 60万
• 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: 2009-08-01 至 2013-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0855447&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Fundamental; Physics; Cosmology

"This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5)."Inflationary cosmology, combined with recent developments in string theory, is pointing to a major paradigm shift: from a nearly homogeneous and isotropic universe to an extremely inho-mogeneous "multiverse", where much of the volume is still in the state of explosive inflationary expansion. We live in a finite "bubble" where inflation has ended, and other bubbles with diverse properties are constantly being formed. A major goal of the proposed research is to learn how this multiverse scenario can be tested observationally. All possible events will happen an infinite number of times in an eternally infllating multiverse. Unless we learn how to compare these infinities, we will not be able to make any predictions at all. This is known as "the measure problem". To determine the probability measure of the multiverse, different measure prescriptions will be studied to check for internal inconsistencies and for conflict with the data. Some measure candidates have already been ruled out in this way, and the hope is that there aren't that many viable prescriptions satisfying some minimal set of requirements.Another idea to be pursued has recently been suggested by Garriga and Vilenkin. They conjecture that the dynamics of the inflationary multiverse is holographically encoded at the future infinity, where it is described by a lower-dimensional Euclidean field theory. The measure is then defined by imposing an ultraviolet cutoff in that theory. This is an attractive approach, as it opens the possibility of deriving the measure from first principles. The most spectacular observational test of the multiverse scenario would be a direct observation of a collision of our bubble with another one. Observational effects of such a collision and the probability for us to be close enough to detect one will be investigated.Another major topic of the proposed research is the study of the evolution and observational signatures of topological defects, which can be copiously produced at phase transitions in the early universe. The main focus here will be on cosmic string networks and on "necklaces", consisting of monopoles connected by strings, which are the most promising defects from the observational point of view. Numerical simulations and analytic modeling will be used to study the evolution of string networks, and the results will be used to make accurate predictions for gravitational waves, high-energy particle fluxes, and other observable effects. Detection of topological defects would open a new window into the early history of the universe and into particle physics at extremely high energies. The broader impacts are that the proposed research will be done in collaboration with graduate students and postdocs. The P.I. will continue his efforts to communicate the results to the general public. This especially applies to the multiverse worldview, which has far-reaching implications beyond physics. The PI has already written a book for lay-persons called "Many Worlds in One" and His work has been featured in numerous newspaper and magazine articles in US, Europe, Russia, and Japan, and in many popular books.

“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。暴胀宇宙学，结合弦理论的最新发展，正指向一个重大的范式转变：从一个近乎均匀和各向同性的宇宙到一个极端不均匀的“多元宇宙”，其中大部分体积仍然处于爆炸性暴胀膨胀的状态。我们生活在一个有限的“泡沫”中，通货膨胀已经结束，其他具有不同属性的泡沫正在不断形成。拟议研究的一个主要目标是了解如何通过观测来测试这种多元宇宙场景。 在一个不断膨胀的多元宇宙中，所有可能的事件都会发生无数次。除非我们学会如何比较这些无穷大，否则我们根本无法做出任何预测。这就是所谓的“测量问题”。为了确定多元宇宙的概率测度，我们将研究不同的测度处方，以检查内部不一致性和与数据的冲突。一些措施候选人已经被排除在这种方式，并希望是，没有那么多可行的处方满足一些最低限度的要求。另一个想法要追求最近提出的加里加和Vilenkin。他们推测，暴胀多重宇宙的动力学在未来无穷远处被全息编码，在那里它由低维的欧几里得场论描述。然后通过在该理论中施加紫外截止来定义该测量。这是一种有吸引力的方法，因为它打开了从第一原理导出度量的可能性。对多元宇宙情景最壮观的观测测试将是直接观测我们的泡泡与另一个泡泡的碰撞。将研究这种碰撞的观测影响以及我们足够接近以探测到这种碰撞的概率。拟议研究的另一个主要课题是研究拓扑缺陷的演变和观测特征，这些缺陷可以在早期宇宙的相变中大量产生。这里的主要重点将放在宇宙弦网络和“项链”上，由弦连接的单极子组成，从观测的角度来看，这是最有希望的缺陷。数值模拟和解析建模将用于研究弦网络的演化，其结果将用于对引力波、高能粒子通量和其他可观测效应进行精确预测。拓扑缺陷的探测将打开一个新的窗口，进入宇宙的早期历史和极高能量的粒子物理学。更广泛的影响是，拟议的研究将与研究生和博士后合作完成。私家侦探他将继续努力向公众宣传调查结果。这尤其适用于多元宇宙世界观，它具有超越物理学的深远影响。 PI已经为外行人写了一本书，名为“多个世界合一”，他的工作已经在美国，欧洲，俄罗斯和日本的许多报纸和杂志文章以及许多流行书籍中出现。