String Theory and Quantum Field Theory: From the Planck Scale to the Hubble Scale

该奖项资助了德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校理论小组的Jacques Distler、Willy Fischler、Can Kilic、Sonia Paban和Steven Weinberg教授的研究活动。自成立以来，理论小组以探索自然的基本规律为目标，对广泛的主题进行了研究，取得了良好的记录。这些主题包括非常早期宇宙的动力学，信息和黑洞之间的关系（这可能导致对引力基本理论的重要见解），粒子物理学标准模型的可能扩展（描述所有已知粒子及其相互作用）和这种扩展的实验特征，以及弦理论和量子场论的形式方面的探索。通过保持和进一步提高美国在理论高能物理领域的全球领导者地位，这种在最深层次上提高我们对自然的理解的多元化努力与推进国家利益的目标是完全一致的。理论小组还积极致力于使物理学能够接触到更广泛的受众，并在学术界之外产生重大影响。这是通过对现场听众和其他媒体的流行讲座，通过公共和技术层面的书籍出版，以及通过网络技术的发展来实现的。此外，理论小组以培养研究生和博士后而自豪，他们继续在这一领域取得成功。具体而言，本项目期间将开展的研究途径包括但不限于：Distler将对N=2四维超共形场理论的分类进行扩展，并探索拓扑弦理论中重要结果的推广。Fischler将继续探索角度对黑洞视界的物理影响，以及在距离黑洞固定距离处悬停的观测者所看到的实验特征。他将完成冲击波在德西特空间的影响及其对全息信息的影响的研究。他将在AdS/CFT的背景下研究mixmaster宇宙的描述。Fischler还将继续他长期以来对全息时空的研究，并重新审视暴胀的初始条件。Kilic将探索对撞机物理以及暗物质模型及其实验特征的各个方面。帕班将研究具有许多场的暴胀理论，以及它们在暴胀结束时达到绝热极限的条件。温伯格将继续寻找量子力学的修改版本，以避免通常不令人满意的方面，同时保留现有理论的成功。

This award funds the research activities of Professors Jacques Distler, Willy Fischler, Can Kilic, Sonia Paban and Steven Weinberg of the Theory Group at the University of Texas at Austin.Since its foundation, the Theory Group has had a strong track record of conducting research on a broad range of topics with the goal of exploring the fundamental laws of nature. These topics include the dynamics of the very early universe, the relationship between information and black holes (which may lead to crucial insights into the fundamental theory of gravity), the possible extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics (which describes all known particles and their interactions) and the experimental signatures of such extensions, and the exploration of string theory and formal aspects of quantum field theory. This diversified effort to improve our understanding of nature at the deepest levels is well aligned with the goal of advancing the national interest by maintaining and further boosting the role of the United States as the global leader in theoretical high-energy physics. The Theory Group is also actively committed to making physics accessible to a wider audience and achieving a substantial impact outside of academia. This is achieved through popular lectures given to live audiences as well as over other media, through the publication of books at both the public and technical levels, and through the development of web technologies. In addition, the Theory Group takes pride in the training of graduate students and postdocs who continue on to successful careers in this field.Specifically, the avenues of research to be conducted during the term of this project include, but are not limited to, the following: Distler will extend the classification of N=2 four-dimensional superconformal field theories and explore a generalization of important results in topological string theory. Fischler will continue his exploration of the physical effects of theta angles on black hole horizons and their experimental signatures as seen by observers hovering at a fixed distance from black holes. He will complete his research on the effects of shockwaves in de Sitter space and the implications for holographic information. He will study the description of mixmaster universes in the context of AdS/CFT. Fischler will also continue his longstanding work on holographic space-time and revisit the initial conditions for inflation. Kilic will explore aspects of collider physics as well as models of dark matter and their experimental signatures. Paban will study theories of inflation with many fields and the conditions under which they reach the adiabatic limit at the end of inflation. Weinberg will continue the search for a modified version of quantum mechanics that will avoid the usual unsatisfactory aspects while retaining the successes of the existing theory.