Particles, Strings, and the Universe in Motion

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。21世纪的第一个十年见证了关于我们宇宙的起源、结构和未来命运的基本问题的显著融合。诸如“宇宙是由什么构成的？”“什么是物质、能量、空间和时间？”现在已经走到了实验粒子物理、观测宇宙学和天体物理学研究的前沿，理论方面的显著发展将它们联系在一起：有效地综合了之前相互分离的广义相对论和宇宙学、量子引力、量子场论、弦理论甚至纯数学领域。该小组提出的活动的目的是在粒子物理、量子引力、宇宙学和弦理论的十字路口进行基础理论研究，应用范围从标准模型之外的物理，到宇宙学中的多重宇宙方法，弦理论和凝聚态物质的界面，以及量子引力中的空间和时间的性质。他们相信，他们的团队处于独特的地位，可以利用他们专业知识的多样性，通过利益重叠将其联系在一起，并专注于关于宇宙的相同基本问题。具体而言，他们建议采取以下方法。米娜·阿加纳奇是拓扑弦理论的主要专家之一。她的工作将集中在拓扑弦方法和弦对偶在超对称破缺的新机制和弦现象学中的应用。她将从拓扑弦的角度进一步研究黑洞的熵。拉斐尔·布索在全息学和几何熵界方面做了开创性的工作，共同发现了弦理论真空的景观，并提出了解决宇宙常量问题的方案。他将致力于解决我们在从自然景观和永恒膨胀的多元宇宙中提取预测所面临的挑战，例如永恒膨胀中的衡量问题，以及用更普遍的选择标准取代人类条件。皮特·霍拉瓦参与了弦理论的许多转折点发现，如方向折叠、D-膜和M-理论。他将把非平衡场理论的方法应用于量子重力和弦理论，研究具有各向异性标度的量子引力，进一步发展与凝聚态物理的接口，并在弦和M理论的低维模型中寻找新的现象。野村康利对我们理解超越标准模型的物理学做出了重大贡献；他开创了更高维度的大统一，并提出了新颖的TeV标度理论。他将致力于与未来几十年的实验相关的理论粒子物理学和宇宙学，特别是大型强子对撞机，重点是超对称破缺及其中介，夸克和轻子质量，以及多重宇宙对TeV尺度物理的影响。拟议活动产生的更广泛影响包括培养学生和博士后，他们成为国家和世界的下一代科学家。伯克利理论物理中心促进多样性，鼓励女性、少数族裔学生和科学家。这项研究中涉及的基本问题引起了公众的极大兴趣，私人投资机构将继续在我们社会的更广泛背景下促进基础科学的重要性和激动人心的作用。PI将与QuarkNet教师合作，向高中生传达尖端科学发现的精髓，并将继续将自己作为资源提供。他们将致力于增强获奖的粒子冒险网站，该网站关于物理学的内容超越了标准模型和弦理论。他们将继续通过系列讲座和暑期学校等教育活动向世界贫困地区传播目前的科学研究成果。

"This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5)."The first decade of the 21st century has witnessed a remarkable convergence of the fundamental questions about the origin, structure and the future fate of our Universe. Questions such as "What is the Universe made of?" " What are matter, energy, space and time?" , which have now come to the forefront of research in experimental particle physics, observational cosmology and astrophysics, are tied together by remarkable developments on the theoretical front: An effective synthesis of previously disconnected areas of general relativity and cosmology, quantum gravity, quantum field theory, string theory and even pure mathematics.The purpose of the group's proposed activity is to perform fundamental theoretical research at the crossroads of particle physics, quantum gravity, cosmology and string theory, with applications ranging from physics beyond the standard model, to the multiverse approach in cosmology, the interface of string theory and condensed matter, and the nature of space and time in quantum gravity. The PIs believe that their group is uniquely positioned to take advantage of the diversity in their expertise, tied together by the overlap in interests and focus on the same fundamental questions about the Universe.Specifically, the PIs propose to take the following approach. Mina Aganagic is one of the leading experts in topological string theory. Her work will focus on applications of topological string methods and string dualities to novel mechanisms of supersymmetry breaking and in string phenomenology. She will further pursue the study of black hole entropy from the perspective of topological strings. Raphael Bousso has done seminal work on holography and geometric entropy bounds, co-discovered the landscape of string-theory vacua, and proposed a solution to the cosmological constant problem. He will work on challenges we face in extracting predictions from the landscape and the eternally inflating multiverse, such as the measure problem in eternal inflation, and replacing anthropic conditions by more general selection criteria. Petr Horava participated in a number of turning-point discoveries in string theory, such as orientifolds, D-branes, and M-theory. He will apply methods of nonequilibrium field theory to quantum gravity and string theory, study quantum gravity with anisotropic scaling, further develop the interface with condensed matter physics, and look for novel phenomena in low-dimensional models of string and M-theory. Yasunori Nomura has contributed significantly to our understanding of physics beyond the standard model; he pioneered grand unification in higher dimensions and proposed novel TeV scale theories. He will work on theoretical particle physics and cosmology relevant to experiments coming in the next decades, in particular the LHC, with emphasis on supersymmetry breaking and its mediation, the quark and lepton masses, and the implications of the multiverse on the TeV scale physics.The broader impacts resulting from the proposed activity include training of students and postdocs who become the next generation of scientists of the nation as well as the world. Berkely Center for Theoretical Physics promotes diversity to encourage female and minority students and scientists. The fundamental questions addressed in this research are of deep interest to the general public, and the PIs will continue promoting the importance and excitement of fundamental science in the broader context of our society. The PIs will work with QuarkNet teachers to convey the essence of cutting-edge scientific discoveries to high school students, and will continue making themselves available as resources. They will work to enhance the award-winning Particle Adventure website on physics beyond the standard model and string theory. They will continue to disseminate the results of the current scientific research to under-privileged areas of the world via lecture series and educational activities such as Summer schools.