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Sania Paban教授的研究活动。Cáceres、Distler、Fischler、Kilic和Paban教授的研究重点是在最基本的层面上发现和理解支配宇宙的定律。这项研究利用各种多管齐下的方法来实现这一使命。这些包括研究所谓的标准模型的扩展，该模型管理基本粒子的行为，以及这些扩展的相关实验签名。这些研究还包括早期宇宙宇宙学和现代天体物理学的研究，以及探索黑洞的物理学，这可能会揭示如何建立量子引力理论。最后，这项研究还包括对相对论量子场论(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，美国一直是发现这些基本定律的带头人。因此，在这个方向上进行更多的研究是符合国家利益的，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，这些培训应该在这些初级科学家在学术界内外的整个职业生涯中得到很好的服务。最后，这些教授将科学推广作为优先事项。他们定期进行公开演讲，组织提高科学素养的活动，并培养未被充分代表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，许多不同的研究领域将被调查。卡塞雷斯教授将继续她在量子模型方面的工作，这些模型是黑洞的全息对偶。特别是，她将专注于向我们提供虫洞内部信息的可观测数据。迪斯勒教授将继续他对4DN=2超共形场理论及其性质的探索。他将扩展他对表现出分形行为的连续量子傅里叶变换的研究，他将研究弦理论中的新缺陷。Fischler教授将继续与他的学生合作，研究量子引力中的量子信息(使用规范-重力二元性)，以及在量子计算环境中使用量子霍尔效应。他将继续致力于全息时空，特别是他20年前帮助开创的德西特时空的量子力学。这是特别及时的，因为人们对量子德西特时空的性质重新产生了兴趣。Kilic教授将探索新粒子的实验特征，这些新粒子通过最小的相互作用与标准模型耦合，这种相互作用被称为“门户”。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大到新的物理场景，这些场景很难发现。他将研究暗物质模型，这些模型可以帮助解决现有宇宙学参数测量中的差异。帕班教授的工作将集中在新的宇宙膨胀模型上，根据弦理论和内部模稳定性的新见解。在这些膨胀模型中，将特别强调引力波和原始黑洞的产生。这一奖项反映了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.