Problems in Theoretical Physics

该奖项资助加州大学圣巴巴拉分校的David Gross、Joseph Polchinski、Mark Srednicki、Robert Sugar和Anthony Zee教授的研究活动。该奖项将通过理论、计算和建立基本粒子特性模型等多种方法，支持旨在理解物质基本组成部分和自然基本定律的研究。格罗斯和波尔钦斯基主要致力于在弦理论和相关思想的基础上建立统一的引力和粒子相互作用理论。具体的方法是研究黑洞的量子力学特性，从更基本的理论研究时空的出现，以及理解这些理论中出现的更高的对称性。Sugar使用大规模计算研究强核相互作用的性质，旨在测试现有的粒子性质标准模型并寻找新的物理学。Srednicki和Zee研究已知粒子和新粒子的模型，包括中微子、超对称粒子和暗物质。从大型强子对撞机（LHC）和费米实验室（Fermilab）到各种深矿和天基观测，这些都是大量实验将继续报告新结果的领域。该小组的成员兴趣广泛，也在其他领域工作，包括非平衡动力学，量子混沌及其与数学和物理的联系，量子场论（量子物理的基本数学框架）的新方法和应用，以及对宇宙常数的理解，它推动了宇宙的加速膨胀。培养研究生和博士后是本基金的一项主要活动。该奖项涵盖的广泛研究课题，以及加州大学圣迭戈分校和卡弗里理论物理研究所强大的科学基础，为青年科学家的教育提供了良好的环境。他们还通过讲座、写作以及与科学出版社和媒体的互动，积极向公众传播科学，其中一些人编写了广泛使用的教科书。晶格规范理论的一部分工作旨在为整个美国晶格规范理论社区开发大规模的计算基础设施。所采取的方法在许多科学和工程领域的计算密集型问题上具有广泛的应用可能性。

This award funds the research activities of Professors David Gross, Joseph Polchinski, Mark Srednicki, Robert Sugar, and Anthony Zee at the University of California at Santa Barbara.This award will support research aimed at understanding the basic building blocks of matter and the fundamental laws underlying nature by a variety of approaches: theoretical, computational, and by building models of the properties of elementary particles. Gross and Polchinski are largely focused on the construction of a unified theory of gravity and the particle interactions, based on string theory and related ideas. Particular approaches are the study of the quantum mechanical properties of black holes, the emergence of space-time from a more fundamental theory, and the understanding of higher symmetries that appear in these theories. Sugar studies the properties of the strong nuclear interaction using large-scale computation, directed at testing the existing Standard Model of particle properties and the search for new physics. Srednicki and Zee study models of known and new particles, including neutrinos, supersymmetric particles, and dark matter. These are all areas where a host of experiments will continue to report new results, from the LHC and Fermilab to a variety of deep-mine and space-based observations. The members of the group are broad in their interests and work on other areas as well, including nonequilibrium dynamics, quantum chaos and its connections with mathematics and physics, new methods and applications in quantum field theory (the basic mathematical framework for quantum physics), and the understanding of the cosmological constant, which drives the accelerating expansion of the universe.The training of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows is a major activity of this grant. The broad range of research topics covered by this award, and the strong scientific base at UCSB and the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, provide an excellent environment for the education of young scientists. The PIs are also active in communicating science to the public, through lectures, writings, and interactions with the scientific press and the media, and several have written widely used textbooks. Part of the effort in lattice gauge theory is aimed at developing large-scale computational infrastructure for the entire U.S. lattice gauge theory community. The approach being taken has broad possibilities for application to computationally-intensive problems in many areas of science and engineering.