M-Theory, Cosmology and Quantum Field Theory

M 理论、宇宙学和量子场论

• 批准号: ST/X000575/1
• 负责人: Daniel Waldram
• 金额: $ 234.9万
• 依托单位: Imperial College London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ST%2FX000575%2F1
• 关键词: Theory; Cosmology; Quantum; Field

Our STFC research programme investigates the fundamental physics that describes matter, interactions and spacetime, focusing on the interrelated core concepts of M-theory, quantum field theory and cosmology. M-theory, which subsumes string theory and supergravity theory, is our central approach to unifying Einstein's theory of General Relativity with the Standard Model of particle physics. One of the most remarkable features of M-theory is that it incorporates dual descriptions of non-perturbative Yang-Mills theories in terms of strings and branes, leading to profound connections between black holes and quantum field theory and also to new insights into strong coupling phenomena such as quark confinement. These connections will continue play a central role in our research, explored in a number of different ways, including using supersymmetry, novel geometric constructions, new algebraic structures and exactly integrable quantum field theory. An ultimate goal is to determine the fundamental degrees of freedom of M-theory which would have profound implications for understanding quantum gravity as well as ultimately particle physics phenomenology. Black holes are a vital stage for exploring these ideas, and, using both analytical and numerical techniques, we will continue to construct and study black-hole solutions with novel properties that have important implications for understanding the origin of entropy and universal properties of the dual quantum field theories. Cosmology continues to be a highly vibrant area of study driven by a wealth of new data, in particular via the new field of gravitational waves observations. Key clues to the structure and the origin of the universe are to be found in the details of the cosmic microwave background. These questions provide one focus of our activities both through analysing data and by studying the cosmological implications of the Higgs field and extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics in inflationary scenarios. Central to the analysis of cosmology is the study of effective field theories. A key element of our work is to use fundamental conditions such as quantum consistency and causality to put important constraints of the allowed form of the effective theory, with implications for early-time cosmology, black-hole physics and dark energy. This includes the possibility that Einstein gravity is modified, for instance where the graviton has a mass. More generally our work extends to looking at how to extract general imprints of quantum gravity, such as fundamental discreteness of spacetime, on cosmological data. A unifying theme throughout this research is what information can be extracted from new gravity wave measurements and what this implies about the nature of gravity and how the universe evolved.

我们的STFC研究计划调查了描述物质，相互作用和时空的基本物理学，重点关注m理论，量子场论和宇宙学的相互关联的核心概念。m理论包含了弦理论和超引力理论，是我们统一爱因斯坦广义相对论和粒子物理学标准模型的核心方法。m理论最显著的特征之一是，它结合了弦和膜对非摄动杨-米尔斯理论的双重描述，导致黑洞和量子场论之间的深刻联系，也对强耦合现象（如夸克约束）有了新的见解。这些联系将继续在我们的研究中发挥核心作用，我们将以多种不同的方式进行探索，包括使用超对称、新颖的几何结构、新的代数结构和精确可积量子场论。最终目标是确定m理论的基本自由度，这将对理解量子引力以及最终的粒子物理现象学产生深远的影响。黑洞是探索这些思想的重要阶段，并且，使用解析和数值技术，我们将继续构建和研究具有新性质的黑洞解，这对理解熵的起源和对偶量子场论的普遍性质具有重要意义。宇宙学仍然是一个高度活跃的研究领域，受到大量新数据的驱动，特别是通过引力波观测的新领域。宇宙的结构和起源的关键线索可以在宇宙微波背景的细节中找到。通过分析数据，研究希格斯场的宇宙学含义，以及在暴胀情景下粒子物理标准模型的扩展，这些问题为我们的活动提供了一个焦点。宇宙学分析的核心是对有效场论的研究。我们工作的一个关键要素是利用量子一致性和因果关系等基本条件，对有效理论的允许形式施加重要约束，这对早期宇宙学、黑洞物理学和暗能量都有影响。这包括爱因斯坦引力被修正的可能性，例如在引力子有质量的地方。更一般地说，我们的工作扩展到研究如何从宇宙学数据中提取量子引力的一般印记，比如时空的基本离散性。贯穿这项研究的一个统一主题是，从新的引力波测量中可以提取什么信息，以及这意味着什么关于引力的本质和宇宙是如何进化的。