Effective Field Theory for Hadronic Physics

强子物理的有效场论

• 批准号: 157859-2013
• 负责人: Luke, Michael
• 金额: $ 3.06万
• 依托单位: University of Toronto
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Subatomic Physics Envelope - Individual
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2015-01-01 至 2016-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=569520
• 关键词: Effective; Field; Theory; Hadronic; Physics

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN is currently studying the nature of matter at the smallest experimentally accessible distances. By colliding protons at high energies, physicists probe the details of the physical world at distances of order 1/10,000th the size of the proton, and by studying the debris of these collisions they are able to infer the existence of new subatomic particles and forces, such as the recently-discovered Higgs Boson. Because proton-proton collisions are incredibly complex events, a great deal of theoretical work is required in order to relate the signals measured in detectors to the details of the microscopic physics in the collision. In particular, subatomic particles called quarks and gluons produced in the collisions turn into energetic jets of particles by the time they hit the detectors. Calculating the details of this process, and hence inferring the properties of the short-distance collision from the measurements, is a challenging task. A technique known as "effective field theory" has proved very successful in recent years in helping unravel some of these complexities. The proposed research focuses on theoretical studies of the application of effective field theory to the production of jets at the LHC, with the goal of increasing the accuracy of theoretical predictions for the LHC. This in term will increase the accuracy with which the LHC can measure the details of the subatomic world. This research is of benefit primarily as basic research, increasing our understanding of the world around us; however, there are more practical benefits. Particle physics tends to attract some of the brightest minds in physics and trains them to think rigorously and creatively. Those that do not end up pursuing careers in physics often have great impact in other fields (finance and computing being two obvious examples). Foreign graduate students and postdocs often choose to stay in Canada, providing examples of "brain-gain."

欧洲核子研究中心的大型强子对撞机 (LHC) 目前正在以最小的实验可达距离研究物质的性质。通过高能质子碰撞，物理学家在质子大小 1/10,000 量级的距离处探测物理世界的细节，并通过研究这些碰撞的碎片，他们能够推断出新的亚原子粒子和力的存在，例如最近发现的希格斯玻色子。 由于质子-质子碰撞是极其复杂的事件，因此需要大量的理论工作才能将探测器中测量的信号与碰撞中的微观物理细节联系起来。 特别是，碰撞中产生的称为夸克和胶子的亚原子粒子在撞击探测器时会变成高能粒子射流。 计算这个过程的细节，从而从测量中推断短距离碰撞的特性，是一项具有挑战性的任务。 近年来，一种被称为“有效场论”的技术在帮助解决其中一些复杂问题方面已被证明非常成功。 拟议的研究重点是有效场理论在大型强子对撞机喷流产生中的应用的理论研究，目的是提高大型强子对撞机理论预测的准确性。 这将提高大型强子对撞机测量亚原子世界细节的准确性。这项研究主要是作为基础研究，增加我们对周围世界的了解； 然而，还有更实际的好处。 粒子物理学往往会吸引物理学界一些最聪明的人才，并训练他们进行严谨和创造性的思考。 那些最终没有从事物理学职业的人通常会在其他领域产生巨大影响（金融和计算机是两个明显的例子）。 外国研究生和博士后经常选择留在加拿大，提供了“人才增益”的例子。