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

该奖项资助了德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校的Elena卡塞雷斯、Jacques Distler、Willy Fischler、Can Kilic和Sonia Paban教授的研究活动。卡塞雷斯、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。本研究采用了多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，它控制着基本粒子的行为，以及这些扩展的相关实验特征。这些也包括早期宇宙学和现代天体物理学的研究，以及探索黑洞的物理学，这可能会揭示如何制定量子引力理论。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。从现代物理学的早期开始，美国就一直在努力发现这些基本定律。因此，在这个方向上进行更多的研究符合国家利益，卡塞雷斯教授、Distler教授、Fischler教授、Kilic教授和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，应该在学术界内外的整个职业生涯中为这些年轻科学家提供良好的服务。最后，这些教授把科学推广作为优先事项。他们定期举办公开讲座，组织提高科学素养的活动，并促进在物理学中代表性不足的少数民族的参与。更具体地说，许多不同的研究领域将作为该研究项目的一部分进行调查。教授卡塞雷斯将继续她的工作量子模型是全息的黑洞。特别是，她将专注于观察，告诉我们有关虫洞内部。Distler教授将继续他的探索4D N=2超共形场理论及其性质。他将扩大他的调查连续QFT表现出分形行为，他将研究弦理论的新缺陷。Fischler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）以及量子计算中量子霍尔效应的使用。他将继续致力于全息时空，特别是量子力学德西特时空，他帮助开拓二十年前。鉴于人们对量子德西特时空的性质重新产生了兴趣，这一点特别及时。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（称为“门户”）与标准模型耦合。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。他将研究暗物质的模型，这些模型可以帮助解决现有宇宙学参数测量中的差异。Paban教授的工作将集中在新的宇宙膨胀模型，根据弦理论的新见解和内部模量的稳定性。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 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.