String Theory and Quantum Field Theory: From the Planck Scale to the Hubble Scale

该奖项资助了德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校的Jacques Distler、Willy Fischler、Can Kilic、Sonia Paban和Steven Weinberg教授的研究活动。Distler、Fischler、Kilic、Paban和Weinberg教授的研究重点是在最基本的层面上发现和理解支配宇宙的定律。因此，这项研究采用了多种多样、多管齐下的方法来实现这一使命。这包括研究控制基本粒子行为的标准模型的扩展，以及这种扩展的相关实验特征。这些还包括对早期宇宙宇宙学和当今天体物理学的研究，以及对黑洞物理学的探索，这可能会揭示如何制定量子引力理论。最后，这些还包括相对论性量子场论（表达基本粒子理论的数学语言）和弦理论（旨在统一自然界中所有不同的粒子和力）的研究。从现代物理学的早期开始，美国就在发现这些基本定律的努力中处于领先地位。因此，在这一方向上的进一步研究符合国家利益，Distler、Fischler、Kilic、Paban和Weinberg教授致力于在这些方向上做出进一步的研究贡献。此外，这项研究将涉及研究生和博士后研究人员，从而为这些初级科学家在学术界内外的职业生涯提供科学培训。最后，这些教授将科学推广作为一项优先事项，并定期在网上或亲自发表公开讲座。他们还为普通观众写书和文章，以提高科学素养和鉴赏力。作为这个研究项目的一部分，将调查许多不同的研究领域。Distler教授将继续探索4D N=2超共形场理论及其性质，包括与2D顶点算子代数的关系。他将把学到的一些经验扩展到N=1 scft，他将重新访问定向折理论的某些方面。Fischler教授将继续与他的学生一起研究量子引力中的量子信息（使用量规引力对偶）以及在量子计算背景下使用量子霍尔效应。Fischler教授和他的学生们还参与了利用量规-重力连接发现黑洞喷射中可能出现的新的可观察效应。Kilic教授将继续研究暗物质模型，这些模型具有不寻常的实验特征，或者可以解决与天体物理观测相关的开放性问题；他还将研究对撞机搜索技术，旨在提高在低信号统计和奇异最终状态情况下的灵敏度，他将探索如何通过实验探索自然性难题的解决方案。帕潘教授将继续研究早期宇宙物理学。她将探索多场暴胀模型的鲁棒性以及与弦理论兼容的多场暴胀模型的实验特征。最后，温伯格教授将继续他在天体物理学方面的工作，并将研究可能导致基本粒子理论进一步研究的想法。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 Professors Jacques Distler, Willy Fischler, Can Kilic, Sonia Paban and Steven Weinberg at the University of Texas at Austin.The research of Professors Distler, Fischler, Kilic, Paban, and Weinberg is focused on the discovery and understanding of the laws that govern the universe at the most fundamental level. As such, this research utilizes diverse and multi-pronged approaches in achieving this mission. These include studying the extensions to the Standard Model which governs the behavior of the elementary particles, and the associated experimental signatures of such extensions. These also include the study of early-universe cosmology and present-day astrophysics, and the exploration of the physics of black holes which may shed light on how a quantum theory of gravity may be formulated. Finally, these also include studies in relativistic quantum field theory (which is the mathematical language in which theories of the elementary particles are expressed) as well as string theory (which aims to unify all of the different particles and forces in nature). Since the early days of modern physics, the United States has led the effort in the discovery of these fundamental laws. Further research in this direction is therefore in the national interest, and Professors Distler, Fischler, Kilic, Paban, and Weinberg are committed to making further research contributions in these directions. In addition, this research will involve graduate students and postdoctoral researchers and thereby provide scientific training that should serve these junior scientists well throughout their careers both within and outside of academia. Finally, these professors make science outreach a priority, and regularly deliver public lectures, in person as well as over the internet. They also write books and articles for general audiences in order to increase science literacy and appreciation.Many different areas of research are to be investigated as part of this research project. Professor Distler will continue his exploration of 4D N=2 superconformal field theories and their properties, including the relation to 2D Vertex Operator Algebras. He will extend some of the lessons learned to N=1 SCFTs and he will visit afresh certain aspects of the theory of orientifolds. Professor Fischler will continue to work with his students on quantum information in quantum gravity (using gauge-gravity duality) and the use of the quantum Hall effect in the context of quantum computation. Professor Fischler and his students are also involved in discovering possibly new observable effects in jet emissions by black holes using the gauge-gravity connection. Professor Kilic will continue to work on dark-matter models that have uncommon experimental signatures or that can address open questions related to astrophysical observations; he will also study techniques in collider searches designed to improve sensitivity in the case of low signal statistics and exotic final states, and he will explore how the solution to the naturalness puzzle can be experimentally probed. Professor Paban will continue to work on early-universe physics. She will explore the robustness of inflation in multifield models and the experimental signatures of models of multifield inflation compatible with string theory. Finally, Professor Weinberg will continue his work in astrophysics, and will investigate ideas that may lead to further research in elementary-particle theory.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.