Quantum Gravity, Field Theory, and Quantum Information

该奖项用于资助美国加州大学圣巴巴拉分校董曦教授的研究活动。物理学中许多最深奥的问题都源于难以将量子力学与爱因斯坦的广义相对论统一为引力的量子力学描述。找到这样一个量子引力理论将解决围绕黑洞和宇宙起源的一些最大的谜团，毫无疑问，将导致从最大到最小尺度对自然的更深层次的理解。因此，这一领域的研究通过促进科学在最基本的方向上的进步来促进国家利益：发现和理解新的物理定律。作为该项目的一部分，董教授将利用量子场论和量子信息科学领域的最新技术来解决量子引力的一些基本问题。预计该项目还将产生更广泛的重大影响。董教授将让研究生参与他的研究，从而为刚开始研究该领域的初级物理学家提供重要的培训。董教授亦会透过各种不同的论坛，将他的研究成果与大众交流和传播。在技术方面，董教授将开发新的理论工具和思路，用于研究全息和量子场论中的量子纠缠结构。有了这些纠缠工具，他将进一步探索量子信息与量子引力之间的联系。然后，他将利用这些结果来研究黑洞信息悖论和加速宇宙中的量子引力。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award funds the research activities of Professor Xi Dong at the University of California, Santa Barbara.Many of the deepest issues in physics are rooted in the difficulty of unifying quantum mechanics with Einstein's general theory of relativity into a quantum-mechanical description of gravity. Finding such a theory of quantum gravity will solve some of the biggest mysteries surrounding black holes and the origin of the universe, and will undoubtedly lead to a deeper understanding of nature from the largest to the smallest scales. As a result, research in this area advances the national interest by promoting the progress of science in its most fundamental direction: the discovery and understanding of new physical laws. As part of this project, Professor Dong will use the latest techniques from quantum field theory and the field of quantum information science to address some of the foundational questions about quantum gravity. This project is also envisioned to have significant broader impacts. Professor Dong will involve graduate students in his research and thereby provide critical training for junior physicists beginning research in this field. Through a wide range of forums, Professor Dong will also communicate and disseminate the findings of his research to a broad audience.More technically, Professor Dong will develop new theoretical tools and ideas for studying the structure of quantum entanglement in holography and quantum field theory. Equipped with these entanglement tools, he will further explore the connection between quantum information and quantum gravity. He will then leverage these results in order to investigate the black hole information paradox and quantum gravity in the accelerating universe.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.