String Theory and Quantum Field Theory: From the Planck Scale to the Hubble Scale

该奖项资助德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校的 Elena Cáceres、Jacques Distler、Willy Fischler、Can Kilic 和 Sonia Paban 教授的研究活动。Cáceres、Distler、Fischler、Kilic 和 Paban 教授的研究重点是发现和理解在最基本层面上支配宇宙的定律。这项研究利用多样化和多管齐下的方法来实现这一使命。其中包括研究所谓的标准模型的扩展，该模型控制基本粒子的行为，以及此类扩展的相关实验特征。其中还包括对早期宇宙学和当今天体物理学的研究，以及对黑洞物理学的探索，这可能有助于阐明如何制定引力的量子理论。最后，这项研究还包括相对论量子场论（表达基本粒子理论的数学语言）和弦理论（旨在统一自然界中所有不同的粒子和力）的研究。自现代物理学早期以来，美国就一直引领着发现这些基本定律的努力。因此，在这个方向上进行更多的研究符合国家利益，Cáceres、Distler、Fischler、Kilic和Paban教授致力于在这些方向上做出进一步的研究贡献。此外，这项研究将涉及研究生和博士后研究人员，并提供科学培训，为这些初级科学家在学术界内外的整个职业生涯提供良好的服务。最后，这些教授将科学推广作为优先事项。他们定期举办公开讲座，组织活动以提高科学素养，并促进代表性不足的少数群体参与物理学。更具体地说，作为该研究项目的一部分，将调查许多不同的研究领域。卡塞雷斯教授将继续研究黑洞全息对偶量子模型。她将特别关注那些让我们了解虫洞内部的可观测数据。 Distler教授将继续探索4D N=2超共形场论及其性质。他将扩展对表现出分形行为的连续 QFT 的研究，并将研究弦理论中的新缺陷。费施勒教授将继续与他的学生一起研究量子引力中的量子信息（使用规范引力对偶性）以及量子霍尔效应在量子计算中的应用。他将继续研究全息时空，特别是二十年前他帮助开创的德西特时空量子力学。鉴于人们对量子德西特时空性质重新产生兴趣，这一点显得尤为及时。基利奇教授将探索通过最小相互作用（称为“门户”）与标准模型耦合的新粒子的实验特征。他还将应用机器学习技术，将大型强子对撞机的搜索范围扩展到难以发现的新物理场景。他将研究暗物质模型，这有助于解决现有宇宙学参数测量中的差异。帕班教授的工作将侧重于根据弦理论和内模稳定的新见解研究新的宇宙膨胀模型。将特别强调这些暴胀模型中引力波和原初黑洞的产生。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优点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 Professors Elena Cáceres, Jacques Distler, Willy Fischler, Can Kilic, and Sonia Paban at the University of Texas at Austin.The research of Professors Cáceres, Distler, Fischler, Kilic, and Paban is focused on discovering and understanding the laws that govern the universe at the most fundamental level. This research utilizes diverse and multi-pronged approaches to achieving this mission. These include studying the extensions to the so-called Standard Model, which governs the behavior of the elementary particles, and the associated experimental signatures of such extensions. These also include the study of early-universe cosmology and present-day astrophysics, and exploring the physics of black holes, which may shed light on how a quantum theory of gravity may be formulated. Finally, this research also includes studies in relativistic quantum field theory (the mathematical language in which theories of the elementary particles are expressed) and string theory (which aims to unify all of the different particles and forces in nature). Since the early days of modern physics, the United States has led the effort in the discovery of these fundamental laws. Therefore, more research in this direction is in the national interest, and Professors Cáceres, Distler, Fischler, Kilic, and Paban are committed to making further research contributions in these directions. In addition, this research will involve graduate students and postdoctoral researchers and provide scientific training that should serve these junior scientists well throughout their careers both within and outside academia. Finally, these professors make science outreach a priority. They regularly deliver public lectures, organize activities to increase science literacy, and foster the participation of underrepresented minorities in physics.More specifically, many different research areas are to be investigated as part of this research project. Professor Cáceres will continue her work on quantum models that are holographic duals of black holes. In particular, she will focus on observables that inform us about the wormhole interior. Professor Distler will continue his exploration of 4D N=2 superconformal field theories and their properties. He will expand on his investigations of continuum QFTs exhibiting fractonic behavior and he will study new defects in string theory. Professor Fischler will continue to work with his students on quantum information in quantum gravity (using gauge-gravity duality) and the use of the quantum Hall effect in the context of quantum computation. He will continue to work on holographic spacetime and in particular the quantum mechanics of de Sitter spacetime which he helped to pioneer twenty years ago. This is particularly timely in light of renewed interest on the nature of quantum de Sitter space-time. Professor Kilic will explore the experimental signatures of new particles that couple to the Standard Model through minimal interactions, called 'portals'. He will also apply machine-learning techniques to extend the reach of searches at the Large Hadron Collider to new physics scenarios that are challenging to discover. He will study models of dark matter that can help address discrepancies in existing measurements of cosmological parameters. Professor Paban's work will focus on new cosmic inflation models in light of new insights from string theory and the stabilization of internal moduli. Particular emphasis will be placed on the production of gravitational waves and primordial black holes in these inflation models.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.