Research in Gravitational Physics

该奖项支持引力物理的广泛研究，包括经典广义相对论和弯曲时空中的量子场论的研究项目。这项研究的主要目的是加深对爱因斯坦广义相对论对涉及黑洞现象的含义的理解，以及对强引力场中量子现象的本质的理解。这项研究将使研究生直接参与研究的各个方面，从而有助于他们的培训。与该奖项相关的研究领域引起了公众的极大兴趣，并将开展有助于向公众传播科学知识的活动，如公开演讲。建议的具体研究课题包括：调查是否可以为黑洞定义记忆效应，类似于未来零无限远的记忆效应；分析霍金辐射是否可能与黑洞蒸发后剩余的明可夫斯基区域的真空涨落纠缠，以使最终状态纯净；分析可从正则能量推导出的自力性质；分析是否可以使用从赫兹势产生的度量扰动的正则能量的表达式来证明/阐明克尔的轴对称稳定性；确定是否-通过使用场重新定义自由度-霍兰德和霍兰兹推导的算符乘积展开系数的公式是否可以以时空局部的形式重写；调查一个人是否以及如何能够理解旨在代表替代一般相对论的有效场论的数学上不适定的方程。这一裁决反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award supports a broad range of research in gravitational physics, including research projects in classical general relativity and quantum field theory in curved spacetime. The main aim of this research is to obtain a deeper understanding of the implications of Einstein's theory of general relativity for phenomena involving black holes, as well as the nature of quantum phenomena in strong gravitational fields. The research will involve the direct participation of graduate students in all aspects of the research, and it will thereby contribute to their training. The areas of research associated with this award are of considerable interest to the public, and activities will be undertaken, such as giving public lectures, that aid in the dissemination of scientific knowledge to the public.The specific research topics proposed include: An investigation of whether a memory effect can be defined for black holes in analogy to the memory effect at future null infinity; an analysis of whether it is possible for Hawking radiation to be entangled with vacuum fluctuations in the Minkowski region that remains after black hole evaporation, in such a way as to make the final state pure; an analysis of properties of self-force that can be deduced from canonical energy; an analysis of whether axisymmetric stability of Kerr can be proven/elucidated using the expression for canonical energy of a metric perturbation generated from a Hertz potential; a determination of whether---by use of field redefinition freedom---the equations derived by Holland and Hollands for the operator product expansion coefficients can be re-written in a form that is local in spacetime; an investigation of whether and how one can make sense of mathematically ill posed equations that are intended to represent effective field theories for alternatives to general relativity.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.