Physics at the Frontier: Collider and Cosmology

该奖项资助纽约州立大学布法罗分校瓦克罗斯、金尼和斯托伊科维奇教授的研究活动。这个研究项目的目标是在粒子物理学、宇宙学和重力研究的前沿提供关键开放问题的答案方面取得重要进展，并在此过程中显著超越该领域的当前艺术状态。新的粒子加速器，如大型强子对撞机（LHC）和设想中的后继者，正在探索能量前沿的新物理学，并能够为有关宇宙结构和历史的重要问题提供答案。另一方面，宇宙学提供了一个独特的实验室来研究传统粒子物理方法无法解决的物理问题，并对加速器形成了有价值的补充。我们目前对宇宙的起源、演化和未来等基本问题的理解仍处于初级阶段，需要综合许多独立的证据来为解释指明道路。该项目反映了这种协同作用，并有望在将高精度宇宙学和加速器数据与宇宙的起源和演化、引力与量子力学的统一、真空在空间和时间结构中的作用等基本问题联系起来方面取得重大进展。因此，这些领域的研究通过促进科学在其最基本的方向之一的进步：发现和理解新的物理定律，从而促进了国家利益。此外，该项目将涉及研究生和博士后，从而为在该领域开始研究的初级物理学家提供重要的培训。此外，研究小组亦会继续以公开讲座及各种外展活动的形式，向公众介绍最新的科学成果。金尼还将继续组织科学和艺术歌舞表演——一个独特的尖端科学和技术与艺术、音乐、诗歌和表演的结合。从技术上讲，瓦克罗斯将通过计算高阶QCD和电弱校正，并在公开可用的蒙特卡洛事件生成器中实现它们，以改进对大型强子对撞机关键SM测量的预测。将实验数据与这些改进的预测进行比较，将以前所未有的精度探测标准模型，并为新物理信号提供更高的灵敏度。在接下来的几年里，金尼计划的主要研究重点是在新的观测宇宙微波背景（CMB）数据和早期宇宙的详细特性之间建立定量联系，以解决一些基本问题，比如：宇宙膨胀的能量尺度是什么？在通货膨胀势中，序算子的形式是什么？暴胀拉格朗日是否与简单规范场论一致？是否有量子引力效应的证据，例如量子模式中的普朗克尺度截止？我们能否解释宇宙微波背景的异常现象，比如普朗克观测到的半球形不对称现象？有没有可行的替代通货膨胀的方法？它们有什么特性？最后，Stojkovic将重点关注大型强子对撞机物理，特别是进一步开发全面的大型强子对撞机事件发生器BlackMax，该发生器被ATLAS和CMS合作广泛用于寻找奇异物理。

This award funds the research activities of Professors Wackeroth, Kinney, and Stojkovic at the State University of New York, University at Buffalo. The goal of this research project is to make important progress in providing answers to key open questions at the frontiers of particle physics, cosmology and gravity research, and in doing so to go significantly beyond the current state of the art in the field. New particle accelerators such as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and envisioned successors are probing new physics at the energy frontier and are capable of providing answers to important questions about the structure and history of the universe. On the other hand, cosmology provides a unique laboratory in which to study questions in physics inaccessible to traditional particle physics methods, and forms a valuable complement to accelerators. Our current understanding of the fundamental problems about the origin, evolution and future of our universe is still in its infancy, and a synthesis of many independent lines of evidence will be necessary to point the way to explanations. This project reflects that synergy, and promises to make significant progress in connecting high-precision cosmological and accelerator data to fundamental questions such as the origin and evolution of the universe, the unification of gravitation with quantum mechanics, the role of the vacuum in the structure of space and time. As a result, research in these areas advances the national interest by promoting the progress of science in one of its most fundamental directions: the discovery and understanding of new physical laws. In addition, this project will involve graduate students and postdocs, and thereby provide critical training for junior physicists beginning research in this field. The PIs will also continue presenting the latest scientific results to the public at large in the form of public talks and various outreach activities. Kinney will also continue organizing Science and Art Cabaret --- a unique mix of cutting-edge science and technology with art, music, poetry, and performance.More technically, Wackeroth will concentrate on improving predictions for key SM measurements at the LHC by calculating higher-order QCD and electroweak corrections and implementing them in publicly available Monte Carlo event generators for realistic simulations. The comparison of experimental data with these improved predictions will probe the Standard Model with unprecedented precision and provide increased sensitivity to signals of new physics. The main thrust of Kinney's planned research for the next several years is to make quantitative connections between new observational Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) data and detailed properties of the early universe in order to address fundamental questions such as: What is the energy scale of cosmological inflation? What is the form of the leading-order operator in the inflationary potential? Is the inflationary Lagrangian consistent with a simple canonical field theory? Is there evidence for quantum gravity effects, for example a Planck-scale cutoff in quantum modes? Can we explain CMB anomalies, such as the hemispherical asymmetry observed by Planck? Are there viable alternatives to inflation? What properties do they have? Finally, Stojkovic will focus on LHC physics, in particular on further development of a comprehensive LHC event generator BlackMax which is extensively used by the ATLAS and CMS collaborations in search for exotic physics.