Theoretical Particle Physics

这项建议为康奈尔大学的Csaba Csaki、Yuval Grossman、Peter Lpage、Liam McAllister和Maxim Perelstein教授的研究活动提供资金。高能物理研究物质的最基本构件及其相互作用。有几种不同的方法可以尝试回答该领域目前面临的最大难题。通过以迄今为止最高的能量碰撞基本粒子，大型强子对撞机(LHC)有望为基本粒子在最短距离内的相互作用提供新的线索。通过对宇宙微波背景辐射的极其精确的测量，可以研究宇宙的性质以及早期主导宇宙的物质和能量的类型。最后，可以使用强大的计算机模拟来研究强相互作用的性质。在所有这些方向上，康奈尔粒子理论小组将通过促进科学在其最基本方向之一的进步来促进国家利益：发现和理解新的物理定律。在他的研究中，Csaki教授将开发能够解释质量起源的新模型(“复合希格斯模型”)，并可以在大型强子对撞机上进行测试。格罗斯曼教授的研究将集中在组成物质的基本粒子(魅力粒子和底夸克粒子)以及中微子(在β衰变中产生的粒子)的更重版本上。佩雷尔斯坦教授将研究在大型强子对撞机上发现新粒子的新方法，以及围绕普通可见物质、但与其相互作用非常弱的物质类型(即所谓的“暗物质”)的新模型。麦卡利斯特教授将试图利用弦理论的结果来描述非常早期宇宙的物理定律，弦理论是理解高能引力行为的最佳候选者。最后，利佩奇教授将使用强大的计算机模拟和最先进的技术来获得强相互作用物质的精确结果。该项目还将产生重大的更广泛的影响。康奈尔粒子理论小组将培训研究生并让博士后参与他们的研究，从而为开始这一领域研究的初级物理学家提供关键培训。他们还将就自己的研究成果进行公开讲座，并定期向当地高中生授课。从技术上讲，Csaki教授将研究解决等级问题的新方法，将研究新类型的希格斯扇区和复合希格斯模型，并将研究真空能量的可能实验测试，以及超对称理论中的单极效应。格罗斯曼教授将探索强度前沿的物理学，包括魅力和美丽物理学、CP破坏和中微子物理学。佩雷尔斯坦教授将研究可以在大型强子对撞机和未来的对撞机上使用精密希格斯计划解决的物理问题，例如电弱相变的性质。他还将继续为大型强子对撞机数据提供理论解释，并探索暗物质的新模型。作为HPQCD格子QCD合作的联合创始人之一，利佩奇教授将继续开发和部署从非微扰QCD中提取重要物理的新技术，重点放在QCD背景上，必须对这些背景进行分析，以分离出重夸克物理中的新物理和非常高精度的量，如Muon的磁矩。麦卡利斯特教授将研究弦理论和早期宇宙宇宙学。他将描述膨胀的量子引力约束，探索弦理论中新的轴子膨胀场景，开发工具来计算Calabi-Yau超曲面上的紧致有效理论，并通过随机矩阵理论研究弦理论的真空结构。

This proposal funds the research activities of Professors Csaba Csaki, Yuval Grossman, Peter Lepage, Liam McAllister, and Maxim Perelstein at Cornell University.High-energy physics studies the most fundamental building blocks of matter and their interactions. There are several different ways in which to try to answer the biggest puzzles this field is currently facing. By colliding elementary particles at the highest energies to date, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is expected to yield new clues on the interactions of elementary particles at the shortest distances. By extremely precise measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation, the properties of the Universe and the type of matter and energy dominating it at early times can be studied. Finally, powerful computer simulations can be used to study the properties of the strong interactions. Pursuing all of these directions, the Cornell Particle Theory group will advance the national interest by promoting the advancement of science in one of its most fundamental directions: the discovery and understanding of new physical law. In his research, Prof. Csaki will develop new models that can explain the origin of mass ("composite Higgs models") and can be tested at the LHC. The research of Prof. Grossman will focus on the heavier versions of the fundamental particles making up matter (the charm and the bottom quarks) as well as on neutrinos, particles that are created in beta decays. Prof. Perelstein will investigate new methods by which new particles could be discovered at the LHC, as well as new models for the type of matter (the so-called "dark matter") that surrounds ordinary visible matter, but interacts very weakly with it. Prof. McAllister will try to characterize the physical laws of the very early Universe by using results from string theory, which is the best candidate for understanding the behavior of the gravitational force at high energies. Finally, Prof. Lepage will use powerful computer simulations and state-of-the-art techniques to obtain precision results for strongly-interacting matter. This project will also have significant broader impacts. The Cornell particle theory group will train graduate students and involve postdocs in their research, and thereby provide critical training for junior physicists beginning research in this field. They will also give public lectures on their research results, as well as regular lectures to local high-school students. More technically, Prof. Csaki will investigate new approaches to the hierarchy problem, will examine novel types of Higgs sectors and composite Higgs models, and will study possible experimental tests of vacuum energy, as well as the effects of monopoles in supersymmetric theories. Prof. Grossman will explore the physics of the intensity frontier, including charm and beauty physics, CP violation, and neutrino physics. Prof. Perelstein will investigate physics questions that can be addressed with the precision Higgs program at the LHC and future colliders, such as the nature of the electroweak phase transition. He will also continue to provide theoretical interpretation of the LHC data, and explore novel models of dark matter. Prof. Lepage, as a co-founder of the HPQCD lattice QCD collaboration, will continue to develop and deploy new techniques for extracting important physics from nonperturbative QCD, with a strong focus on QCD backgrounds that must be analyzed to isolate new physics in heavy-quark physics and very high-precision quantities such as the magnetic moment of the muon. Prof. McAllister will investigate string theory and early-universe cosmology. He will characterize quantum-gravity constraints on inflation, explore new axion inflation scenarios in string theory, develop tools to compute effective theories in compactifications on Calabi-Yau hypersurfaces, and study the vacuum structure of string theory via random matrix theory.