Fundamental Interactions and Cosmology

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This award funds the research activities of Professors Marc Kamionkowski, David E. Kaplan, Surgeet Rajendran, Jared Kaplan, and Ibrahima Bah at Johns Hopkins University.The search to understand the fundamental laws of physics is at an exciting but uncertain time. While we eagerly await the discovery of new physics at the Large Hadron Collider or with the next decade of dark-matter searches, existing null results have forced theorists to discard old prejudices and think deeply about entirely new ideas for fundamental physics and novel experimental avenues to seek new physics. This effort is also advanced by the development of new mathematical tools to help understand the structure of the theories (called "quantum field theories") in terms of which most models of fundamental physics are constructed. This effort is now also advanced by exciting new discoveries concerning the largest-scale structure of the Universe and new fossils from the Big Bang that have been discovered in the cosmos. The research to be conducted under this grant tackles central problems at the juncture of theory and experiment in particle physics and cosmology and in the formal mathematical tools that are the foundation of physical theories. The work of this group of researchers will advance new ideas for cosmological observations and fundamental-physics searches, and they seek to propose new mechanisms and models that may ultimately help in the grand synthesis of the laws of nature. Theoretical research along these lines advances the national interest by optimizing our investment in major experimental facilities in their quest to understand new physical laws. This research will also proceed hand in hand with the training of students and postdocs who will become scientific leaders in subsequent generations. These professors will also remain vigorous in their quest to communicate the excitement of particle physics and cosmology to the general public. More specifically, Professors D. Kaplan and Rajendran will develop new non-accelerator directions for exploring the fundamental laws of nature while pushing to pursue a deeper understanding of the phenomena we see. Professor Rajendran will do related work on new ideas for dark-matter detection and on the development of new gravitational-wave experiments aimed at opening vast areas of discovery space. Professor Kamionkowski plans to develop a suite of new early-Universe probes with forthcoming observations, and will study novel models to account for the Hubble tension. Professor J. Kaplan plans to study the role of locality in the AdS/CFT correspondence and to use holography to understand new gravitational phenomena. Finally, Professor Bah will work on the geometric engineering of QFTs and study a new class of “topological stars” and their possible phenomenological consequences. There is also much overlap between the boundaries of the different research interests of these researchers, and novel ideas will emerge from collaborations that result from these intersections.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.