Research in High Energy Physics and Cosmology

该奖项资助Matthew B教授的研究活动。在宇宙学中有强有力的观测证据表明，我们的宇宙正在以缓慢的速度加速膨胀，而非常早期的宇宙经历了一段极其快速的加速膨胀时期。 与此同时，最近有人提出了几个关于宇宙加速的理论限制，这些限制与这些观测结果存在尖锐的矛盾。 如何解释宇宙膨胀历史中的这些神秘特征呢？ 在理解这些深刻发现的意义方面取得突破，将促进科学的进步，并通过可能揭示新的自然规律和帮助解释我们宇宙的起源和命运来促进国家利益。 该奖项将资助马修·克莱班教授对假想粒子（称为轴子）理论的研究，这些粒子可以解决这些问题。 此外，它还将支持他对统计模型物理学的研究，这些模型可以描述经历加速膨胀的宇宙的遥远未来和经历相变的材料表面。 最后，它将使他能够继续他的工作量子力学物理的黑洞及其形成和蒸发。 Kleban教授的工作还将以公开讲座和采访的形式产生广泛影响，激励和培训纽约大学物理学本科生和研究生以及博士后研究人员和早期职业科学家。技术上，Kleban教授将研究多轴子景观理论及其在宇宙学中的应用，利用他开发的新技术来推进我们对这些理论和一般通货膨胀的理解。 他将继续他的工作布朗循环汤，建立在最近的突破连接到O（n）模型和一组精确的相关函数和光谱信息，作为该进展的结果获得。 最后，Kleban教授将回到反德西特时空中的量子黑洞这一主题，研究最近开发的工具在多大程度上可以应用于更高维的引力理论。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award funds the research activities of Professor Matthew B. Kleban at New York University.There is strong observational evidence in cosmology that the expansion of our universe is accelerating at a slow rate, and that the very early universe underwent a period of extremely rapid accelerated expansion. At the same time, several theoretical constraints on cosmic acceleration have recently been proposed that are in sharp tension with these observations. How can these mysterious features in the expansion history of the universe be explained? A breakthrough in understanding the meaning of these profound discoveries would promote the progress of science and advance the national interest by potentially revealing new laws of nature and helping to explain the origin and fate of our universe. This award will fund the research of Professor Matthew Kleban into theories of hypothetical particles called axions that could address these questions. In addition, it will support his investigations of the physics of statistical models that can describe both the far future of a universe undergoing accelerated expansion and the surfaces of materials undergoing phase transitions. Lastly, it will enable him to continue his work on the quantum-mechanical physics of black holes and their formation and evaporation. Professor Kleban's work will also have a broad impact in the form of public lectures and interviews, and in inspiring and training undergraduate and graduate physics students at NYU, as well as post-doctoral researchers and early-career scientists.More technically, Professor Kleban will study the theory of multi-axion landscapes and their applications to cosmology, making use of the novel techniques he developed to push forward our understanding of such theories and of inflation in general. He will continue his work on the Brownian Loop Soup, building on a recent breakthrough in a connection to the O(n) model and the set of exact correlation functions and spectral information that were obtained as a result of that advance. Finally, Professor Kleban will return to the topic of quantum black holes in anti-de Sitter spacetime, investigating the extent to which recently developed tools can be applied to higher-dimensional theories of gravity.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.