Particle Theory, Gravity and Cosmology

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This award funds the research activities of Professors John Donoghue and Lorenzo Sorbo at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. One of the most active areas in theoretical physics involves the connections between general relativity, which is our theory of the gravitational interactions, and the fields of particle physics and cosmology. The union of gravity and quantum mechanics has fundamental problems to be addressed, and the connection of fundamental physics to cosmology will allow crucial tests of our present ideas. Professors Donoghue and Sorbo will conduct a research program which addresses these new frontiers. Professor Donoghue will use the techniques of what is called "effective field theory" to study quantum-gravity effects that are reliably calculated at low energy. Professor Sorbo's primary research involves novel effects in the study of the universe, including possible new ways of testing proposed new theories. As a result, research in this area advances the national interest by promoting the progress of science in one of its most fundamental directions: the discovery and understanding of the universe and its fundamental properties. Professors Donoghue and Sorbo will also involve graduate students and postdocs in their research, and thereby provide training for junior physicists beginning research in this field. They will provide outreach to high-school students and teachers, and develop a new book promoting the understanding of quantum field theory. More technically, Professor Donoghue will use effective field theory to treat quantum problems in general relativity in the region where the effective field theory is valid. He will also conduct research at the frontiers of understanding in Soft Collinear Effective Theory, Asymptotic Safety, and nuclear binding. Professor Sorbo will explore various phenomenological aspects of primordial inflation, with a special emphasis on the possible explanations of the anomalies observed in the CMB spectra. He will also investigate the gravitational couplings of axion dark matter, the behavior of four-form fields coupled to moduli, and various aspects of massive gravity.