Research on Gravitation and Quantum Fluctuation Phenomena

该奖项是根据2009年《美国复苏和再投资法案》(公法111-5)提供资金的。这个项目将涉及与量子涨落和引力有关的几个主题的理论研究。将特别关注与量子应力张量涨落的关联和反关联相关的问题，其中，量子应力张量描述了量子场中的局部能量密度。要研究的课题包括宇宙学中的量子应力张量涨落效应，特别是在膨胀模型中。PI和他的合作者之前的工作表明，这些效应可能会慢慢积累，从而在宇宙的演化中发挥潜在的重要作用。这一可能性将得到进一步研究。一个密切相关的话题是寻找应力张量涨落的概率分布，这是膨胀模型中感兴趣的，包括探索比可见宇宙大得多的“多重宇宙”的可能性的模型。该项目的其他方面将寻求提出新的实验室实验，以寻找负能量密度和相关的“亚真空”现象，即一些量在空旷的空间中波动低于其正常值。该项目将研究卡西米尔力的某些方面，特别是它的波动，以及凝聚态系统中的波动。这些主题既是为了它们本身，也是为了更好地理解引力理论中的量子效应而作为模拟模型而感兴趣的。预计该项目将对科学、教育和技术的其他领域产生更广泛的影响。这项工作的洞察力和技术在正在研究的物理学特定子领域之外可能是有用的。该项目将通过培训研究生和主要教学机构的教员参与来进一步教育。它还应该提供一些例子，可以用来向不同教育水平的学生解释量子理论和相对论的一些概念。关于卡西米尔力的工作最终可能在纳米技术中有用。更好地了解卡西米尔部队对于建造小型装置可能变得重要。同样，该项目中对量子关联的研究可能会应用于量子信息和量子计算。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). This project will involve theoretical studies of several topics relating to quantum fluctuations and gravitation. Particular attention will be paid to issues relating to the correlation and anti-correlation of fluctuations of the quantum stress tensor that describes, among other things, the local energy density in a quantum field. The topics to be investigated include the effects of quantum stress tensor fluctuation in cosmology, especially in inflationary models. Previous work by the PI and his collaborators has indicated that these effects may be able to slowly accumulate, and thereby have a potentially significant role in the evolution of the universe. This possibility will be further studied. A closely related topic is the search for the probability distribution for stress tensor fluctuations, which is of interest in inflationary models, including ones which explore the possibility of a "multiverse" much larger than the observable universe. Other aspects of this project will seek to propose new laboratory experiments looking for negative energy density and related "sub-vacuum" phenomena, where some quantity fluctuates below its usual value in empty space. The project will examine selected aspects of the Casimir force, especially its fluctuations, and of fluctuations in condensed matter systems. These topics are of interest both for their own sake, and as analog models to better understand quantum effects in gravity theory. This project is expected to have a broader impact through possible benefits to other fields of science, to education, and to technology. The insights and techniques of this work may be useful outside of the specific subfields of physics being investigated. The project will further education through the training of graduate students and by the involvement of faculty at primarily teaching institutions. It should also produce examples which can be used to explain some of the concepts of quantum theory and relativity to students on a variety of educational levels. The work on Casimir forces may eventually be useful in nanotechnology. A better knowledge of Casimir forces is likely to become important for the construction of small scale devices. Similarly, the study of quantum correlations in this project may have applications to quantum information and quantum computing.