Confining Geometries and Quantum Chromodynamics

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This award funds the research efforts of Professor Vincent Rodgers at the University of Iowa. For nearly fifty years, Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) has been a competing mathematical theory for the underlying physics of nuclear matter. The theory has shown itself to be successful in environments where matter is highly energetic such as accelerators but due to the nature of the theory, predictions in lower energy environments are intractable. String theory provides a clever mechanism for solving some aspects of QCD in low energy environments by mapping the theory into a gravitational theory (or geometries) that can be "easily" solved. One problem with this mapping is that these geometries are highly restrictive and one needs new families of geometries in order to find those that correspond to QCD. In this work, we are using as many of the salient properties of QCD to extend the family of suitable geometries related to QCD and try to determine new features of QCD in its low-energy state. Understanding QCD in such a state will improve our understanding of nuclear physics.This project has several broader impacts. Professor Rodgers has several graduate students, including international students, women from the U.S., and underrepresented minority students. Professor Rodgers, an African American, is also quite active in science outreach for rural and urban communities in and around Iowa, and strongly encourages his students to participate in outreach as well. Prof. Rodgers also teaches courses in string theory and quantum field theory where this research will benefit the curriculum of those courses.