Exceptional Holography

该奖项为犹他州州立大学的奥斯卡·瓦雷拉教授的研究活动提供资金。广义相对论和量子场论传统上被认为是不可调和的理论。前者支配着宇宙的大尺度结构，显然是经典的，而后者描述了在亚原子水平上运行的基本相互作用--电磁，弱和强。 但这两种看似不同的理论是否可能实际上是同一个硬币的不同两面？它们是否可以被视为一套支配性的物理原理的“双重”表现？ 如果是这样的话，广义相对论和量子场论将相互补充而不是相互冲突，因为它们将是等价的，尽管适用范围不同。作为他的研究项目的一部分，瓦雷拉教授将开发这个想法的各个方面，通常被称为反deSitter/共形场理论（AdS/CFT）对应。这项研究通过促进科学在根本方向上的发展，通过在越来越深的层次上发展物理定律之间的关系，促进了国家利益。 该研究项目还将通过为初级物理学家提供培训以及向物理学界和公众传播研究成果来产生更广泛的影响。更技术性的是，新的超重力工具将被引入和开发，以构建弦理论背景并研究它们的全息术。在低维的超引力理论将进行分析和反德西特解决方案，这些模型的构建。此外，基于超引力及其例外场论扩展的新技术将被开发出来，以跟踪这些低维解，直到10维和11维，从而获得新的完全成熟的弦理论解。此外，相应的场论算子谱和超重力有效行动将使用新的例外场论方法计算。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得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的支持。

This award funds the research activities of Professor Oscar Varela at Utah State University. General relativity and quantum field theory have traditionally been thought to be irreconcilable theories. The former governs the large scale structure of the universe and is manifestly classical, while the latter describes the fundamental interactions --- electromagnetic, weak, and strong --- that operate at a subatomic level. But is it possible that these two seemingly different theories are actually two different sides of the same coin? Could they be regarded as "dual" manifestations of an overarching set of physical principles? If this were the case, general relativity and quantum field theory would complement rather than conflict with each other, as they would be equivalent albeit with different applicability regimes. As part of his research project, Professor Varela will develop aspects of this idea, generally known as the anti-deSitter/conformal field theory (AdS/CFT) correspondence. This research advances the national interest by promoting the development of science in a fundamental direction, by developing relations among the laws of physics at deeper and deeper levels. This research project will also have broader impacts by providing training for junior physicists and by disseminating results both to the physics community at large and to the general public. More technically, new supergravity tools will be introduced and developed to construct string theory backgrounds and study their holography. Supergravity theories in lower dimensions will be analyzed and anti-de Sitter solutions to those models constructed. Further, new techniques based on supergravity and its Exceptional Field Theory extensions will be developed to track those lower-dimensional solutions all the way up to ten and eleven dimensions, thereby obtaining new fully-fledged string theory solutions. Also, the corresponding field theory operator spectra and supergravity effective actions will be computed using novel Exceptional Field Theory methods.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.