Research in Particle Theory, Cosmology, and Quantum Gravity

该奖项资助了斯坦福大学的Savas Dimopoulos、Peter Graham、Shamit Kachru、Renata Kalosh、Andrei Linde、列奥纳多Senatore、Steve Shenker、伊娃西尔弗斯坦和伦纳德萨斯金德教授的研究活动。我们生活在一个基本粒子物理学、早期宇宙学和量子引力等核心问题快速发展的时代。 在粒子物理学中，许多基本粒子质量的起源预计可以用新类型的粒子和能量约为质子质量100倍的相互作用来解释-这一尺度被称为弱尺度。 大型强子对撞机（LHC）已经在质子-质子碰撞中获得了足够高的能量来产生这种新粒子，并发现了难以捉摸的希格斯玻色子，证实了这一观点。 但是关于希格斯粒子本身的性质仍然存在严重的问题，LHC还没有阐明这些问题。 Dimopoulos和Graham教授将专注于开发探索基础物理学的补充实验方法以及新的理论机制，以解释希格斯粒子仍然神秘的性质。 教授Kallosh，林德，参议员，和西尔弗斯坦将导致不同的努力，以发展通货膨胀的理论-我们的主要候选人的物理基础的大爆炸-在其可能的实验签名和基本的理论结构方面。 斯坦福大学的研究小组还将开发新的模型，并对各种潜在的早期宇宙现象进行测试。 Kachru、Shenker和Susskind教授正在研究量子引力问题。 其中包括研究黑洞的神秘物理学（它似乎通过吸收粒子和信息来破坏它们）如何与量子力学相协调。 它们还包括试图理解量子引力背后的新数学结构。 总的来说，这项工作通过开发基础科学的新工具和范式来促进国家利益。 这项工作的更广泛影响包括培训了许多年轻科学家，他们随后在学术界、工业界和金融界发挥了重要作用，以及传播了教育公众了解现代理论物理学前沿问题的材料。迪莫普洛斯教授和格雷厄姆教授正在发展想法，寻找微米尺度的新力量（可通过光模量传输）和新的解决方案，涉及宇宙历史的层次问题，如弛豫机制。 教授卡洛什，林德，塞纳托雷，和西尔弗斯坦证明新模型的大领域的通货膨胀使用超引力和弦理论的想法;开发新的方法来探测非高斯的原始波动来自通货膨胀;和开发系统的技术，以提取原始宇宙学数据的研究大尺度结构。 Kachru教授正在探索数论结构（特别是自守形式理论）与BPS态、黑洞和弦真空之间的联系。 Shenker教授正在研究量子场论中动力学和光谱的混沌特性，重点是那些可能与全息术相关的理论。 最后，Susskind教授正在发展全息术的复杂性理论。

This award funds the research activities of Professors Savas Dimopoulos, Peter Graham, Shamit Kachru, Renata Kallosh, Andrei Linde, Leonardo Senatore, Steve Shenker, Eva Silverstein and Leonard Susskind at Stanford University.We live in an era of rapid progress on central questions in fundamental particle physics, early-universe cosmology, and quantum gravity. In particle physics, the origin of the masses of many of the elementary particles is expected to be explained by new types of particles and interactions found at energies of roughly 100 times the proton mass --- a scale known as the weak scale. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has attained energies in proton-proton collisions that are high enough to produce such new particles, and has discovered the elusive Higgs boson, confirming this picture. But serious questions remain about the properties of the Higgs particle itself, and the LHC has yet to shed light on these. Professors Dimopoulos and Graham will focus on developing complementary experimental methods of probing fundamental physics as well as new theoretical mechanisms to explain the still mysterious properties of the Higgs particle. Professors Kallosh, Linde, Senatore, and Silverstein will lead diverse efforts to develop the theory of inflation --- our leading candidate for the physics underlying the Big Bang --- in terms of its possible experimental signatures and underlying theoretical structures. The Stanford group will also develop new models and tests of a diverse array of potential early-Universe phenomena. Professors Kachru, Shenker, and Susskind are working on issues in quantum gravity. These include studies of how the mysterious physics of black holes (which seem to destroy particles and information by absorbing them) can be reconciled with quantum mechanics. They also include attempts to understand new mathematical structures underlying quantum gravity. Collectively, this work advances the national interest by developing new tools and paradigms in fundamental science. The broader impacts of this work include the training of numerous junior scientists who then play prominent roles in academia, industry, and finance, as well as the dissemination of material which educates the general public about cutting-edge issues in modern theoretical physics.More technically, Professors Dimopoulos and Graham are developing ideas to look for new forces at the micron scale (plausibly transmitted by light moduli) and new solutions to the hierarchy problem that involve cosmological history, such as the relaxion mechanism. Professors Kallosh, Linde, Senatore, and Silverstein are justifying new models of large-field inflation using supergravity and string-theory ideas; developing new ways of probing non-Gaussianity of the primordial fluctuations coming from inflation; and developing systematic techniques to extract primordial cosmological data from studies of large-scale structure. Professor Kachru is exploring connections between structures in number theory (especially the theory of automorphic forms) on the one hand and BPS states, black holes and string vacua on the other. Professor Shenker is investigating the chaotic properties of dynamics and spectra in quantum field theories, with a focus on those theories that may be relevant in holography. Finally, Professor Susskind is developing a theory of complexity in holography.