New Frontiers in Particle Physics, Cosmology and Gravity

粒子物理学是研究自然界的基本组成部分，它们如何相互作用，以及它们如何导致我们从最小尺度到最大尺度观察到的东西。标准模型建立在量子场论的基础上，是迄今为止所有数据的令人印象深刻的准确描述，从对撞机到天文观测。然而，从粒子质量的模式到我们缺乏量子引力理论，有许多方面我们都不了解。大型强子对撞机(LHC)继续积累数据；它在2012年发现了著名的希格斯粒子，并可能发现SM以外的新物理。目前，在介子g-2实验和大型强子对撞机上的b夸克物理中，可能有新物理的迹象。我们正在通过下一个研究所积极参与理解这些和其他可能的特征，例如，通过我们易于使用的超级计算机接口(HEPMDB)和新的实验触发因素的定义。我们还在开发新物理学可能是什么以及它们如何影响宇宙学(早期宇宙物理学)的模型。我们试图解释不同粒子质量的大小，以及为什么宇宙由物质而不是反物质主导。许多签名涉及强子，如质子，由受到强大核力约束的夸克组成。人们对这种强大的作用力知之甚少，但我们在使用超级计算机模拟来研究这些粒子方面拥有专业知识。这些模拟对于理解大型强子对撞机b夸克反常是至关重要的。继续发展量子场理论是很重要的，量子场理论是所有粒子物理工作的基础。我们研究如何对粒子如何散射进行非常精确的计算，试图降低这些计算的复杂性。理解强核力如何产生强子质量，以及希格斯场如何为电子等粒子贡献其他质量，仍然是我们工作的悬而未决的问题。到目前为止，也还没有完整的引力量子理论，我们正在努力开发关于重力的新想法。弦理论是这一理论的主要候选者，我们研究了这一理论的许多方面，包括散射签名。源于弦理论的“全息术”概念将QCD和黑洞等明显截然不同的系统联系在一起。我们正在开发它，以了解更多关于量子引力的知识，并使用引力来研究QCD，包括在极端环境中，如中子星的核心。黑洞如何编码信息也是一个非常深刻的问题，这表明我们还不知道黑洞视界(甚至连光都无法逃脱的黑洞边缘)发生了什么。我们正在开发黑洞及其微态的模型，并测试它们的一致性。量子引力应该是早期宇宙物理学的基础，我们开发了全息模型来模拟大爆炸的物理学。我们正在扩展晶格场理论模拟来研究引力和宇宙学，包括测试全息模型。

Particle physics is the study of the fundamental building blocks of nature, how they interact and how they lead to what we observe from the smallest scales to the largest. The Standard Model, which is built on quantum field theory, is an impressively accurate description of all data to date, from colliders to astronomical observations. Nevertheless, there are many aspects we do not understand from the pattern of particle masses to our lack of a quantum theory of gravity. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) continues to accumulate data; it famously discovered the Higgs particle in 2012 and could yet discover new physics beyond the SM. Currently there are possible hints of new physics in the muon g-2 experiment and in b-quark physics at LHC. We are actively engaged, through the NExT institute, in understanding these and other possible signatures, for example, through our easy-to-use interface to supercomputers (HEPMDB) and the definition of new experimental triggers. We are also developing models of what new physics could be and how they impact cosmology (early-universe physics). We try to explain the sizes of the different particle masses and why the Universe is dominated by matter rather than anti-matter. Many signatures involve hadrons, such as protons, made of quarks bound by the strong nuclear force. The strong force is poorly understood but we have expertise in using supercomputer simulations to study these particles. These simulations are vital to understand the LHC b-quark anomalies. It is important to continue to develop Quantum Field Theories, the structure that underpins all particle physics work. We study how to make very precise calculations of how particles scatter, trying to reduce the complexity of these computations. Understanding how the strong nuclear force generates hadron masses and how the Higgs field contributes other masses to particles such as the electron remain open questions we work on. There is also as yet no complete quantum theory of gravity and we work towards developing new ideas for gravity. String theory is a leading candidate for this theory and we study many aspects of this theory including scattering signatures. The notion of "holography", that emerged from string theory, has linked apparently very different systems such as QCD and Black Holes. We are developing it to learn more about a quantum gravity, and use gravity to study QCD including in extreme environments such as the cores of neutron stars. How black holes encode information is also a very deep question which shows we do not yet understand what happens at a black hole event horizon (the edge of a black hole from which even light can't escape). We are developing models of black holes and their microstates and we test their consistency. Quantum gravity should underpin the physics of the very early universe and we develop holographic models to model the physics of the Big Bang. We are extending lattice field theory simulations to study gravity and cosmology, including testing holographic models.