CAREER: Nuclear Physics from Lattice QCD in the Chiral Regime

当今核物理学的主要挑战是了解强子的内部结构及其复杂的相互作用，因为它们是从强子的基本理论——量子色动力学（QCD）中产生的。 该项目的目标是探索手性动力学对强子谱和结构的影响。 我将特别关注电磁极化率、最轻强子的质量以及高温下致密核物质的行为。 为了研究夸克在强子为主要激发的能量区域中的特性，我将使用数值方法，即晶格 QCD。 在教育方面，我正在开发一个研讨会系列“科学教师的现代物理”和本科生“计算物理”课程。 这些研讨会旨在帮助教师将 K-12 科学课程与现代物理研究联系起来。 该研讨会系列将为社会经济和教育指标特别低的地区的科学教师和当地 K-12 学生提供宝贵的教育机会。 从更广泛的角度来看，该项目是了解宇宙中可见物质特性的努力的一部分。 作为严格实验工作的补充，我的研究探索了 QCD 预测的核粒子特性。 这将有助于回答与早期宇宙的组成、中子星内部物质的奇异相、强子内部的电荷分布、核力的起源等相关的问题。我的研究的一个重要部分是开发利用显卡 (GPU) 强大计算能力的 QCD 数值方法。 使用 GPU 解决核物理问题所获得的专业知识将直接适用于所有使用有限差分方法的科学和工程领域。

A primary challenge of Nuclear Physics today is to understand the internal structure of hadrons and their complex interactions as they emerge from Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), the fundamental theory of the strong force. The objective of this project is to explore the effects of chiral dynamics on hadron spectrum and structure. In particular, I will focus on electromagnetic polarizabilites, the masses of the lightest hadrons and the behavior of dense nuclear matter at high temperature. To investigate the properties of quarks in the energy region where hadrons are the dominant excitations, I will use a numerical approach, lattice QCD. On the educational side, I am developing a seminar series, "Modern Physics for Science Teachers" and an undergraduate "Computational Physics" course. The seminars will be designed to help teachers connect the K-12 science curriculum to modern Physics research. The seminar series will constitute a valuable educational opportunity to science teachers and local K-12 students, in a area where the socio-economic and educational indicators are particularly low. From a broader perspective, this project is part of an effort to understand the properties of visible matter in the universe. Complementing a rigorous experimental effort, my research explores the properties of nuclear particles as predicted by QCD. This will help answer questions relating to the composition of the early universe, exotic phases of matter inside neutron stars, charge distributions inside hadrons, origin of nuclear forces, etc. A significant part of my research involves developing numerical methods for QCD that exploit the tremendous computing power of graphics cards (GPUs). The expertise gained in using GPUs to solve nuclear physics problems will have direct applicability to all scientific and engineering fields that use finite-difference methods.