Lattice Gauge Theory at the University of the Pacific

太平洋大学的格子规范理论

• 批准号: 1318220
• 负责人: James Hetrick
• 金额: $ 27万
• 依托单位: University of the Pacific
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-08-15 至 2017-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1318220&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Lattice; Gauge; Theory; University; Pacific

This grant supports the research activities of the Pacific Lattice Group, consisting of Professors James Hetrick, Kieran Holland, and Keisuke Juge at the University of the Pacific.This project concerns computational field theory in particle physics. There are four strands in this work, three involving theoretical study of strongly-interacting particles and one managing a scientific data archive gateway. The thrust of the first strand is to understand from basic principles how a few fundamental building blocks, the quarks and gluons of QCD (Quantum Chromodynamics), generate the experimentally observed hadrons, such as the proton, neutron and other exotic particles, as well their properties and interactions. This work has significant relevance for nuclear physics. The second and third branches of this research program explore models of physics "Beyond the Standard Model", in particular investigating the possibility that the newly discovered Higgs particle might be a composite of "quark-like" particles, or even a manifestation of extra dimensional physics. Finally, the fourth part of this research program is the maintenance of a large, public, internationally accessible repository of lattice gauge theory data, allowing researchers around the world to access and build on the work of others, thereby significantly leveraging the investment in this work and that of other similar researchers.The broader significance of this work is to advance our current understanding of the fundamental constituents, structure, and interactions of matter and the universe. The Standard Model of particle physics encapsulates the way that quarks and leptons interact, and explains all known accelerator data. This Model is much like the Periodic Table in chemistry at the turn of the 18th century: we have the table and its mathematical description of the interactions of its constituents, but we have no understanding of why the interactions take the form and structure that they do. In chemistry, the deeper understanding of the Periodic Table came with the next level of physics --- quantum theory, explaining why atoms have the properties and interactions that they do. We are at a similar crossroads now in our understanding of particle physics and the Standard Model, poised to break through to the next level of understanding of the structure of matter, and the results of this research project might potentially be one step in that direction. On the other hand, the data archive management component of this project uses the latest high-performance grid technologies to make the results of this work and other researchers around the world available to each other, greatly multiplying the return on the scientific investment made by the public.

这笔赠款支持太平洋格子小组的研究活动，该小组由太平洋大学的James Hetrick、Kieran Holland和Keisuke Juge教授组成。该项目涉及粒子物理中的计算场理论。这项工作有四个方面，三个涉及强相互作用粒子的理论研究，一个管理科学数据档案门户。第一条线索的主旨是从基本原理上理解几个基本的构建块，即QCD(量子色动力学)的夸克和胶子是如何产生实验观察到的强子的，如质子、中子和其他奇异粒子，以及它们的性质和相互作用。这项工作对核物理具有重要的意义。该研究计划的第二和第三分支探索物理模型，特别是研究新发现的希格斯粒子可能是类似夸克的粒子的复合体，甚至是额外维度物理的表现。最后，这项研究计划的第四部分是维护一个大型的、公开的、国际上可访问的格点规范理论数据存储库，使世界各地的研究人员能够访问和建立其他人的工作，从而显著地利用在这项工作和其他类似研究人员的投资。这项工作的更广泛的意义是促进我们目前对物质和宇宙的基本成分、结构和相互作用的理解。粒子物理的标准模型封装了夸克和轻子相互作用的方式，并解释了所有已知的加速器数据。这个模型很像18世纪初化学中的元素周期表：我们有表及其对其成分相互作用的数学描述，但我们不理解为什么这些相互作用会采取它们所采取的形式和结构。在化学中，对元素周期表的更深层次的理解来自于下一个层次的物理-量子理论，解释了为什么原子具有它们所具有的性质和相互作用。在我们对粒子物理和标准模型的理解上，我们现在正处于类似的十字路口，准备突破对物质结构的理解的下一个层次，而这个研究项目的结果可能是朝着这个方向迈出的一步。另一方面，该项目的数据档案管理组件使用最新的高性能网格技术，使这项工作的成果与世界各地的其他研究人员相互共享，大大提高了公众做出的科学投资的回报。