Holography, Black Holes, and Conformal Field Theory

全息术、黑洞和共形场论

• 批准号: SAPIN-2020-00047
• 负责人: Maloney, Alexander
• 金额: $ 6.56万
• 依托单位: McGill University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Subatomic Physics Envelope - Individual
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2021-01-01 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=741724
• 关键词: Holography; Black; Holes; Conformal; Field

I propose to investigate foundational questions at the interface of particle physics, gravitation, and cosmology. I will focus on basic conceptual puzzles in quantum gravity and quantum field theory, and in particular on problems related to the physics of black holes and conformal field theory. To address these questions I will use the holographic principle, our most powerful tool in the study of quantum gravity. Many of the deepest questions in theoretical physics involve black holes. What is the nature of a black hole event horizon? Do black holes destroy information? Previous attempts to address these questions have focused only on special classes of black holes, which differ qualitatively from those relevant for astrophysics. This shortcoming must be addressed if we are to understand the dynamics of realistic black holes, such as the one at the center of our galaxy. Many of the same questions arise in cosmology. Astronomical observations indicate that the universe began with a big bang singularity followed by a period of inflation, but in order to understand the very early universe we need a fully quantum theory of cosmology. We need new tools and techniques that will enable us to make sense of quantum gravity in regimes where general relativity breaks down. The most useful such tool is the holographic correspondence (or holography), which states that quantum gravity in a region of space is equivalent to a theory on the boundary of that region. In its most precise form, known as the Anti-de Sitter/Conformal Field Theory (AdS/CFT) correspondence, holography has allowed us to address these previously unsolvable problems in an exact manner. This has led to a remarkable relationship between the physics of black holes and that of conformal field theories (CFTs). CFTs are the basic building blocks of quantum field theory, and describe many of the most important models of particle, nuclear and condensed matter physics. I propose to apply powerful non-perturbative techniques inspired by holography and black hole physics to the study of conformal field theories. I also propose, conversely, to use insights and techniques from conformal field theory to study some of the deepest and most pressing questions in quantum gravity. The resulting cross-fertilization of ideas from different fields of research is one of the long-term goals of my research program. This will allow us to address some of the most fundamental and long-standing problems in theoretical physics - those concerning the basic structure of space-time and the origin of our observable universe from a big bang singularity.

我建议研究粒子物理、引力和宇宙学界面上的基本问题。我将集中讨论量子引力和量子场论中的基本概念难题，特别是与黑洞物理和共形场论有关的问题。为了解决这些问题，我将使用全息原理，这是我们在研究量子引力方面最强大的工具。理论物理中许多最深层的问题都涉及到黑洞。黑洞视界的本质是什么？黑洞会破坏信息吗？以前解决这些问题的尝试只集中在特殊类别的黑洞上，这些黑洞在性质上与天体物理学相关的黑洞不同。如果我们想要了解真实黑洞的动力学，比如我们银河系中心的黑洞，就必须解决这个缺点。许多同样的问题也出现在宇宙学中。天文观测表明，宇宙开始于一次奇点的大爆炸，随后是一段膨胀时期，但为了理解非常早期的宇宙，我们需要一个完整的宇宙学量子理论。我们需要新的工具和技术，使我们能够在广义相对论崩溃的情况下理解量子引力。最有用的这种工具是全息对应(或全息术)，它声称空间区域中的量子引力等同于该区域边界上的理论。全息术以其最精确的形式，被称为反德西特/共形场理论(ADS/CFT)对应，使我们能够以准确的方式解决这些以前无法解决的问题。这导致了黑洞物理学和共形场理论(CFT)之间的显著联系。CFT是量子场论的基本组成部分，描述了许多最重要的粒子、核物理和凝聚态物理模型。我建议将受全息术和黑洞物理启发的强大的非微扰技术应用于共形场理论的研究。相反，我还建议使用保形场理论的见解和技术来研究量子引力中一些最深和最紧迫的问题。由此产生的来自不同研究领域的思想的交叉融合是我研究计划的长期目标之一。这将使我们能够解决理论物理中一些最基本和最长期存在的问题--那些关于时空的基本结构和我们的可观测宇宙从大爆炸奇点起源的问题。