Extended and Novel Particle Sectors in String Theory

该奖项资助了美国东北大学的James Halverson教授的研究活动。弦理论试图在一个共同的统一框架中描述物理定律，如电磁学，核物理学和引力。 弦理论的一个核心方面是它预言了空间额外维度的存在，而这些额外维度的性质在决定理论中粒子如何相互作用方面起着很大的作用。 然而，事实证明，在弦理论中，这些额外维度有许多自洽的可能性。 Halverson教授研究的中心目标是确定一组非常常见的可能性，并分析它们对粒子物理学潜在附加定律的相应预测。 这一领域的研究通过促进科学在最基础层面的进步来服务于国家利益，在这种情况下，通过为来自弦理论等统一理论的新物理定律提供动力。 该项目还将产生更广泛的影响。教授哈尔弗森将涉及博士后和学生在他的研究，从而为初级物理学家提供关键的培训，因为他们开始他们的研究生涯。 他还将通过NSF资助的Physics TheoryNet项目向波士顿地区的高中生以及他在东北大学的本科生传达他的研究成果和该领域的相关发展。使用远离弱耦合的区域以及弦一致性条件来激励扩展粒子扇区（EPS）从量子场论的角度来看是新颖的。 该项目的一个主要方面将是在F理论中对非希格斯玻色子簇的正式研究，包括它们在四维中的物理起源以及对可见和暗EPS的相关影响。 他将开发新的数学来理解F理论几何背景下的物质和结之间的联系，还将研究M理论的G2紧化中的奇异极限，以及弦一致性条件如何要求奇异物质的存在。 这项工作的一个潜在贡献是开发一个概念的典型性的某些EPS的景观，从而提供动力的模型，无论是新颖的或特设的其他物理框架。

This award funds the research activities of Professor James Halverson at Northeastern University.String theory attempts to describe physical laws, such as those governing electromagnetism, nuclear physics, and gravity, in a common unified framework. One central aspect of string theory is that it predicts the existence of extra dimensions of space, and the properties of these extra dimensions play a large role in determining how particles interact in the theory. However, it turns out that there are many self-consistent possibilities for these extra dimensions in string theory. The central goal of Professor Halverson's research is to determine a set of very common possibilities and to analyze their corresponding predictions for potential additional laws of particle physics. Research in this area serves the national interest by promoting the progress of science at its most fundamental level, in this case by providing motivation for new physical laws from unified theories such as string theory. This project will also have substantial broader impacts. Professor Halverson will involve a postdoc and students in his research, and thereby provide critical training for junior physicists as they begin their research careers. He will also communicate his research results and related developments in the field to Boston-area high-school students through the NSF-funded Physics TheoryNet program, and also to his undergraduate students at Northeastern.More technically, Professor Halverson will study the string landscape, using regions away from weak coupling and also string consistency conditions to motivate extended particle sectors (EPS) that are novel from the point of view of quantum field theory. One major aspect of this project will be the formal study of non-Higgsable clusters in F-theory, including their physical origin in four dimensions and associated implications for visible and dark EPS. He will develop new mathematics to understand the connection between matter and knots in the context of F-theory geometries, and will also study singular limits in G2 compactifications of M-theory and how string consistency conditions may require the existence of exotic matter. One potential contribution of this work is to develop a notion of typicality of certain EPS in the landscape, thereby providing motivation for models that are either novel or ad hoc in other physical frameworks.