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From supersymmetry, strings and branes to the LHC and cosmology.

从超对称、弦和膜到大型强子对撞机和宇宙学。

基本信息

批准号：
ST/L000326/1
负责人：
Peter West
金额：
$ 145.47万
依托单位：
King's College London
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Research Grant
财政年份：
2014
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2014 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ST%2FL000326%2F1
关键词：
supersymmetry strings branes LHC cosmology.

项目摘要

The proposed research is part of a quest to understand Nature at its most fundamental level, leading to a single, complete and consistent theory of physics. At small distances, the behaviour of matter and forces is governed by quantum mechanics. The subatomic electromagnetic, weak and strong forces have been understood since the formulation of the Standard Model some 40 years ago. These forces and the particles they act upon are described by quantum field theory, and it is crucial for mathematical consistency that the Standard Model incorporates a large amount of symmetry. The Standard Model has enjoyed spectacular experimental success, culminating in the recent discovery at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN of a strong candidate to be the Higgs Boson, the last particle predicted by the Standard Model that remained to be found.Our current description of gravity is Einstein's very successful theory of General Relativity, which describes the motion of planets, stars and galaxies as well as the Universe as a whole. Unfortunately, General Relativity is not consistent with quantum mechanics and so cannot be simply combined with the Standard Model to provide a consistent theory of all the four forces. The Standard Model also fails to explain the hierarchy of mass scales in fundamental physics, the proliferation of particle types and the nature of the dark matter in the Universe, which is known to be present in large quantities but has not yet been seen.It is widely believed that supersymmetry, which is a symmetry that exchanges fermions (such as the electron) with bosons (such as the photon), will play an important role in formulating a unified theory of the four forces. Supersymmetry predicts the existence of yet unobserved subatomic particles, and the search for these was an important motivation behind the construction of the LHC. One of them could in fact be dark matter, and hence play an important role in forming structures in the universe. Other theories of physics beyond the Standard Model postulate that 'elementary' particles are in fact extended, composite objects, or that there are more dimensions of space.Strings are microscopic objects that are extended along one dimension and can vibrate, rather like strings on a violin. Although the underlying theory of strings and branes is not known, their effects at low energies are completely described by supergravity theories, and by studying these it has been realized that objects, called branes, and symmetries, called dualities, are important parts of the full theory. Branes can be thought of as generalizations of strings to objects that are extended along more than one dimension. Remarkably, one finds that strings and branes can lead to consistent quantum theories in four dimensions that contain gravity as well as the Standard Model, while also offering prospects for novel physics beyond the Standard Model.Part of the proposed research aims to find and understand this underlying theory of string and branes. Although quantum field theories have had spectacular theoretical and experimental success, leading to the most accurately known confirmation between theory and experiment, there are very few quantities which have been computed exactly. In recent years, a correspondence between certain string theories and quantum field theories in four dimensions has been found. This has led to new techniques in the former that enable the exact computation of quantities of physical interest. This is part of the ongoing research, as well as exploring the possible consequences of strings and branes for physics beyond the Standard Model, and understanding what other new physics is being revealed by the LHC, astrophysical experiments and cosmology.

这项拟议中的研究是在最基本的层面上理解自然的探索的一部分，从而形成一个单一、完整和一致的物理学理论。在小距离上，物质和力的行为受量子力学的支配。自从大约40年前标准模型建立以来，亚原子电磁力、弱力和强力已经被理解。这些力和它们所作用的粒子由量子场论描述，标准模型包含大量的对称性对于数学的一致性至关重要。标准模型在实验上取得了惊人的成功，最近在欧洲核子研究中心的大型强子对撞机（LHC）上发现了一个强有力的候选者希格斯玻色子，这是标准模型预测的最后一种粒子，还没有找到。我们目前对引力的描述是爱因斯坦非常成功的广义相对论，它描述了行星的运动，恒星和星系以及整个宇宙。不幸的是，广义相对论与量子力学并不一致，因此不能简单地与标准模型相结合，以提供所有四种力的一致理论。标准模型也未能解释基础物理学中质量尺度的层次结构、粒子类型的扩散以及宇宙中暗物质的性质。已知暗物质大量存在，但尚未被发现。人们普遍认为，超对称性是一种交换费米子的对称性。（如电子）与玻色子（如光子）的相互作用，将在建立四种力的统一理论中发挥重要作用。超对称性预言了尚未观测到的亚原子粒子的存在，对这些粒子的探索是建造LHC的重要动机。其中之一实际上可能是暗物质，因此在形成宇宙结构中发挥着重要作用。标准模型之外的其他物理学理论假设“基本”粒子实际上是扩展的、复合的物体，或者说空间有更多的维度。弦是微观物体，沿着沿着延伸，可以振动，就像小提琴上的弦一样。虽然弦和膜的基本理论还不为人所知，但它们在低能时的效应完全可以用超引力理论来描述。通过研究这些理论，人们认识到，称为膜的物体和称为对偶的对称性是整个理论的重要组成部分。膜可以被认为是字符串到沿沿着不止一个维度延伸的对象的泛化。值得注意的是，人们发现弦和膜可以在包含引力和标准模型的四维空间中产生一致的量子理论，同时也为标准模型之外的新物理学提供了前景。拟议中的研究的一部分旨在发现和理解弦和膜的基础理论。虽然量子场论在理论和实验上都取得了惊人的成功，导致了理论和实验之间最精确的确认，但精确计算的数量很少。近年来，人们发现了某些弦理论与四维量子场论之间的对应关系，从而在弦理论中产生了新的技术，使人们能够精确地计算物理上感兴趣的量。这是正在进行的研究的一部分，以及探索弦和膜对标准模型之外的物理学的可能后果，并了解LHC，天体物理实验和宇宙学揭示的其他新物理学。