RUI: Proposal to Test Fundamental Principles of General Relativity

爱因斯坦的广义相对论是现代物理学的支柱，它描述了所有已知的引力现象。这个项目的工作将促进我们对广义相对论基础的理解。尽管广义相对论是迄今为止最好的引力基础理论，但它还没有成功地与量子理论和基本粒子理论结合成一个统一的物理理论。最近的研究指出，这种统一理论的可观察到的迹象可能表现为对广义相对论基础的微小违背，包括概括了狭义相对论原理的局部洛伦兹对称。这项提议的工作将利用一个通用的理论框架来描述一般假设的洛伦兹违反，称为引力标准模型扩展，近年来已被广泛采用。首席研究员将进一步发展这一框架，在实验和观测中揭示洛伦兹破坏的新型可观测信号，包括月球激光测距、重力仪测试和引力波信号。这项工作将通过提供动力和额外的领域来寻找超越广义相对论的新效应和新物理学，积极地影响参与物理定律精确测试的研究人员。任何假设的洛伦兹违反信号的预期小尺寸继续激励许多实验团队开发更精确的测量技术，为当前的精密仪器标准和一般计量领域做出贡献。这项工作主要在本科院校进行，该奖项将提高这些院校在前沿研究领域的知名度。物理学专业的本科生，包括少数族裔和女性，都可以参加无障碍的理论项目。这将影响到本科生，他们将被鼓励学习理论物理，并更有可能参加物理研究生院。

Einstein's General Relativity is a pillar of modern physics, describing all known gravitational phenomena. The work in this project will advance our understanding of the foundations of General Relativity. Though it is our best fundamental theory of gravity to date, General Relativity has yet to be successfully combined with quantum theory and elementary particle theory into a single unified theory of physics. Recent work has pointed to the possibility that observable hints of such a unified theory could be manifested as minuscule violations of the foundations of General Relativity theory, including local Lorentz symmetry, which encapsulates the principles of Special Relativity. The proposed work will make use of a general theoretical framework for describing generic hypothetical Lorentz violation, called the Gravitational Standard-Model Extension, which has been widely adopted in recent years. The principal investigator will further develop this framework revealing new types of observable signals for Lorentz violation in experiments and observations including lunar laser ranging, gravimeter tests, and gravitational wave signals.This work will positively impact researchers involved in precision tests of physical laws by providing motivation and additional areas in which to search for novel effects and new physics beyond General Relativity. The expected small size of any hypothetical Lorentz-violating signal continues to motivate the development of more precise measurement techniques by many experimental teams contributing to current precision instrument standards and the general field of metrology. The setting for this work is at a primarily undergraduate institution and this award will increase the visibility of such institutions in cutting-edge research. Accessible theoretical projects will be available to undergraduate students in physics, including minorities and women. This will impact undergraduate students who will be encouraged to pursue theoretical physics and be more likely to attend graduate school in physics.