RUI: Quantum Kinetics of Neutrinos: Studying the Universe at the Interface of Neutrino and Nuclear Astrophysics

RUI：中微子的量子动力学：在中微子和核天体物理学的界面研究宇宙

• 批准号: 2111591
• 负责人: Chad Kishimoto
• 金额: $ 18.15万
• 依托单位: University of San Diego
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-08-01 至 2024-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2111591&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RUI; Quantum; Kinetics; Neutrinos; Studying

Every second, trillions of neutrinos pass through our bodies, leaving nary a trace. On the other hand, in the first few minutes of the lifetime of the universe — a mere blink of the eye in the 13.8 billion year history of the universe from the Big Bang to the present day — the universe is so hot and so dense that neutrinos, in spite of the weakness of their interactions with matter, play an important role in the dynamics of this early epoch in the history of the universe. As a result, the early universe provides an interesting environment to study fundamental physics that may be either difficult or impossible to probe in the terrestrial laboratory. This project looks to leverage upcoming advances in upcoming high-precision cosmological observations to use the dynamics of the early universe to explore fundamental physics. The PI will train undergraduate student researchers, and as they engage in this intriguing field of study, they will build various skills that are valuable across a range of 21st century careers. In performing this work, they will numerically simulate neutrino evolution in astrophysical environments along with the concomitant effect on their environment. These simulations will explore the complex evolution of neutrinos that are influenced by their quantum mechanical nature and by many interactions with other neutrinos and their environment. This project will explore the quantum kinetic evolution of neutrinos in the early universe where this evolution is driven by the hot and dense environment as well as large fluxes of neutrinos. The quantum kinetic neutrino evolution is affected by their coherent, unitary quantum mechanical behavior, their high scattering rates, and nonlinearity introduced by neutrino-neutrino interactions. In the early universe — the first few minutes after the Big Bang — this nonlinear quantum kinetic behavior plays an important role in the dynamics of the universe as well as the interconversion between protons and neutrons. A self-consistent exploration of this behavior is needed too understand its effects on cosmological observables as well as the synthesis of elements in Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. The goal of this project is to solve the quantum kinetic equations in the early universe to build a broader understanding of the nonlinear quantum kinetic evolution of neutrino states in this environment, to elucidate the feedback of this evolution, and toward the goal of leveraging upcoming anticipated high-precision cosmological observations complemented by high-fidelity theoretical calculations to treat the universe as a laboratory to study fundamental physics.This project advances the objectives of "Windows on the Universe: the Era of Multi-Messenger Astrophysics", one of the 10 Big Ideas for Future NSF Investments.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.

每秒钟，数万亿的中微子穿过我们的身体，不留痕迹。 另一方面，在宇宙生命的最初几分钟--从大爆炸到现在的138亿年宇宙历史中的一眨眼的时间--宇宙是如此的热，如此的密集，以至于中微子尽管与物质的相互作用很弱，但在宇宙历史的早期阶段的动力学中发挥着重要作用。 因此，早期宇宙提供了一个有趣的环境来研究基础物理学，这些物理学可能很难或不可能在地球实验室中进行探测。 该项目旨在利用即将到来的高精度宇宙学观测的进展，利用早期宇宙的动力学来探索基础物理。 PI将培养本科生研究人员，当他们从事这一有趣的研究领域时，他们将培养在21世纪世纪职业生涯中有价值的各种技能。 在进行这项工作时，他们将数值模拟中微子在天体物理环境中的演化，沿着对其环境的影响。 这些模拟将探索中微子的复杂演化，这些演化受到其量子力学性质以及与其他中微子及其环境的许多相互作用的影响。 该项目将探索宇宙早期中微子的量子动力学演化，这种演化是由热和稠密的环境以及中微子的大通量驱动的。 中微子的量子动力学演化受到它们的相干、幺正量子力学行为、高散射率和中微子-中微子相互作用引入的非线性的影响。 在早期宇宙-大爆炸后的最初几分钟-这种非线性量子动力学行为在宇宙动力学以及质子和中子之间的相互转换中起着重要作用。 需要对这种行为进行自洽的探索，以了解它对宇宙学可观测量的影响以及大爆炸核合成中元素的合成。 该项目的目标是求解早期宇宙中的量子动力学方程，以建立对这种环境下中微子态的非线性量子动力学演化的更广泛理解，阐明这种演化的反馈并朝着利用即将到来的预期高精度宇宙学观测的目标，辅之以高-保真度理论计算，将宇宙视为研究基础物理学的实验室。该项目推进了“宇宙之窗：该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。