Particle Theory, Gravity and Cosmology

该奖项资助了马萨诸塞大学阿默斯特分校约翰·多诺霍教授和洛伦佐·索博教授的研究活动。理论物理学中最活跃的领域之一涉及到广义相对论（我们关于引力相互作用的理论）与粒子物理学和宇宙学领域之间的联系。引力和量子力学的结合有一些基本问题需要解决，而基础物理学与宇宙学的联系将允许对我们目前的想法进行关键的测试。多诺霍教授和索博教授将开展一个研究项目，以解决这些新领域的问题。多诺霍教授将使用所谓的“有效场论”技术来研究在低能量下可靠计算的量子引力效应。Sorbo教授的主要研究涉及宇宙研究中的新效应，包括检验提出的新理论的可能新方法。因此，这一领域的研究通过促进科学在其最基本的方向之一的进步来促进国家利益：发现和理解宇宙及其基本性质。多诺霍教授和索博教授还将让研究生和博士后参与他们的研究，从而为刚开始研究这一领域的初级物理学家提供培训。他们将为高中学生和教师提供外联服务，并编写一本促进对量子场论理解的新书。更技术性的是，多诺霍教授将使用有效场论在有效场论有效的区域处理广义相对论中的量子问题。他还将在软共线有效理论、渐近安全性和核结合方面进行前沿研究。Sorbo教授将探讨原始暴胀的各种现象学方面，特别强调对CMB光谱中观测到的异常现象的可能解释。他还将研究轴子暗物质的引力耦合，四形式场与模耦合的行为，以及大质量引力的各个方面。

This award funds the research activities of Professors John Donoghue and Lorenzo Sorbo at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. One of the most active areas in theoretical physics involves the connections between general relativity, which is our theory of the gravitational interactions, and the fields of particle physics and cosmology. The union of gravity and quantum mechanics has fundamental problems to be addressed, and the connection of fundamental physics to cosmology will allow crucial tests of our present ideas. Professors Donoghue and Sorbo will conduct a research program which addresses these new frontiers. Professor Donoghue will use the techniques of what is called "effective field theory" to study quantum-gravity effects that are reliably calculated at low energy. Professor Sorbo's primary research involves novel effects in the study of the universe, including possible new ways of testing proposed new theories. As a result, research in this area advances the national interest by promoting the progress of science in one of its most fundamental directions: the discovery and understanding of the universe and its fundamental properties. Professors Donoghue and Sorbo will also involve graduate students and postdocs in their research, and thereby provide training for junior physicists beginning research in this field. They will provide outreach to high-school students and teachers, and develop a new book promoting the understanding of quantum field theory. More technically, Professor Donoghue will use effective field theory to treat quantum problems in general relativity in the region where the effective field theory is valid. He will also conduct research at the frontiers of understanding in Soft Collinear Effective Theory, Asymptotic Safety, and nuclear binding. Professor Sorbo will explore various phenomenological aspects of primordial inflation, with a special emphasis on the possible explanations of the anomalies observed in the CMB spectra. He will also investigate the gravitational couplings of axion dark matter, the behavior of four-form fields coupled to moduli, and various aspects of massive gravity.