Theoretical Particle Physics at City, University of London

粒子物理学正处于关键时刻。大型强子对撞机的实验发现了标准模型中最后一个缺失的元素：希格斯玻色子，并对新物理学提出了严格的限制。与此同时，在理论物理界，我们对量子规范和引力理论的理解还存在一些突出的问题，毫无疑问，大型强子对撞机和其他实验的新观测将使我们受益匪浅。本项目将研究现代理论物理中的两个关键问题。首先，我们将使用所谓的规范/弦对应来检验强耦合规范理论。关于强耦合规范理论，还有许多有待学习的地方。近年来，在利用规范/弦对应关系来理解某些规范理论方面取得了重大突破。特别是，我们的团队一直处于开发称为可积性的数学工具的最前沿，它为我们提供了一个强大的工具，用于研究具有少量超对称性的强相互作用规范理论以及精确测试全息。我们的团队也在全息背景下的弦的点阵场论方法方面处于领先地位。LFT特别有效，因为弦世界表的低维性（1+1d）和格林-施瓦茨费米子的反交换标量性质显著降低了处理器所需的功率，同时适用于许多物理上重要的全息背景。通过所谓的二聚体模型，低超对称规范理论也被证明与代数几何和代数数论的数学有着密切的联系。在这个项目中，我们将以这些结果为基础，利用这些新的数学工具和方法来理解非超对称规范理论的强耦合动力学及其规范/弦对偶性。其次，我们将探索超越标准模型的物理，可以从弦理论中获得一致的低能量理论。弦理论提供了一个框架，将规范和引力相互作用统一为一个统一的量子理论。关键的挑战之一是确定弦理论紧化的特定例子，这将导致现实的低能物理。这仍然是一个主要的挑战，因为传统算法的运行时间很长。我们的团队率先使用新颖的机器学习方法来获得关于弦现象学模型的高精度详细信息。在这个项目中，我们将利用这些发展来系统地绘制弦理论的图景。新方法的显著速度意味着我们可以探索传统算法完全无法触及的弦模型的物理特性。此外，由于我们与数据和计算机科学专家的紧密联系，我们处于一个独特的位置，可以利用这种多学科理论物理合作中产生的协同效应，以及它们对更广泛应用的潜在影响。我们集团的综合专业知识，我们的跟踪记录以及我们的国际和英国合作者，使我们处于实现上述目标的理想位置。

Particle physics is at a critical juncture. The LHC experiments have found the last missing element of the Standard Model: the Higgs boson, and placed stringent restrictions on new physics beyond. At the same time, in the theoretical physics community there are outstanding problems in our understanding of quantum gauge and gravity theories, which undoubtedly would benefit from new observations at the LHC and other experiments. This project will investigate two key problems in modern theoretical physics.Firstly, we will examine strongly coupled gauge theories using the so-called gauge/string correspondence. Much remains to be learnt about strongly coupled gauge theories. In recent years, there have been significant breakthroughs in understanding certain gauge theories using the gauge/string correspondence. In particular, our group has been at the forefront of developing mathematical tools known as integrability which provide us with a powerful tool with which to investigate strongly-interacting gauge theories with little supersymmetry as well as precision test holography. Our group has also been pioneering Lattice Field Theory methods for strings in holographic backgrounds. LFT is particularly effective, because the low-dimensionality of the string worldsheet (1+1d) and the anti-commuting scalar nature of Green-Schwarz fermions significantly reduce the processor power needed, while being applicable in a many physically-important holographic backgrounds. Low-supersymmetry gauge theories have also been shown, through the so-called dimer models to have intimate links to the mathematics of algebraic geometry and algebraic number theory. In this project we will significantly build on these results to exploit these new mathematical tools and methods to understand the strong-coupling dynamics of less supersymmetric gauge theories and their gauge/string dualities.Secondly, we will explore beyond-the-Standard-Model physics that can be obtained as a consistent low-energy theory from string theory. String theory has provided a framework for unifying gauge and gravity interactions into a single consistent quantum theory. One of the key challenges has been to identify particular examples of string theory compactifications which will lead to realistic low-energy physics. This has remained a major challenge since conventional algorithms have very long run-times. Our group has pioneered the use of novel Machine Learning methods to obtain high-precision, detailed information about stringy phenomenology models. In this project we will exploit these developments to systematically chart the String Theory Landscape. The remarkable speed of the new methods means that we can explore physical properties of string models that were completely out of reach with conventional algorithms. Additionally, because of our strong links with Data and Computer Science experts, we are in a unique position to exploit the synergies that will arise in this multi-disciplinary Theoretical Physics-focused collaboration and their potential impact on a much wider set of applications.The combined expertise of our group, our track-record and our international and UK collaborators, places us in an ideal position to achieve the goals set-out above.