Physics at the Frontier: Collider and Cosmology

该奖项资助纽约州立大学布法罗分校的Wackeroth、Kinney和Stojkovic教授的研究活动。这一研究项目的目标是在为粒子物理、宇宙学和引力研究的前沿领域的关键悬而未决的问题提供答案方面取得重要进展，并在这样做方面大大超出该领域的当前技术水平。新的粒子加速器，如大型强子对撞机(LHC)和预期的继任者，正在探索能量前沿的新物理，并能够为关于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，在这里研究传统粒子物理方法无法达到的物理问题，并形成了对加速器的宝贵补充。我们目前对宇宙起源、演化和未来的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方向。这个项目反映了这种协同效应，并有望在将高精度宇宙学和加速器数据与基本问题联系起来方面取得重大进展，这些基本问题包括宇宙的起源和演化、引力与量子力学的统一、真空在时空结构中的作用。因此，这些领域的研究通过促进科学最基本的方向之一--发现和理解新的物理定律--来促进国家利益。此外，该项目将涉及研究生和博士后，从而为初级物理学家开始这一领域的研究提供关键培训。督导计划亦会继续以公众讲座和各项外展活动的形式，向公众介绍最新的科学成果。Kinney还将继续组织科学和艺术卡巴莱-一个尖端科学和技术与艺术、音乐、诗歌和表演的独特结合。更严格地说，Wackeroth将专注于通过计算高阶QCD和电弱修正并在公开可用的蒙特卡罗事件生成器中实施它们来改进对大型强子对撞机关键SM测量的预测，以进行逼真的模拟。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索标准模型，并提供对新物理信号的更高灵敏度。金尼计划的未来几年研究的主旨是在新的观测宇宙微波背景(CMB)数据和早期宇宙的详细性质之间建立定量联系，以解决诸如：宇宙膨胀的能量尺度是多少等基本问题？膨胀势中的前序算符的形式是什么？膨胀拉格朗日与简单的正则场论一致吗？是否存在量子引力效应的证据，例如量子模式中的普朗克尺度截止？我们能解释CMB的异常吗，比如普朗克观察到的半球不对称？除了通胀，还有其他可行的选择吗？它们有哪些特性？最后，斯托伊科维奇将把重点放在大型强子对撞机物理上，特别是进一步开发一个全面的大型强子对撞机事件发生器BlackMax，它被ATLAS和CMS的合作广泛用于寻找奇异的物理。

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.