Research in Particle Theory, Cosmology, and Quantum Gravity

该奖项资助斯坦福大学的Savas Dimopoulos、Peter Graham、Shamit Kachru、Renata Kallosh、Andrei Linde、Leonardo Senatore、Stephen Shenker、Eva Silverstein和Leonard Susskind教授的研究活动。作为他们研究活动的一部分，这九位教授将研究范围广泛的学科，所有这些学科都旨在回答两个基本问题：我们能否理解宇宙的起源和历史演变？我们能确定构成我们周围世界的基本构件——基本粒子的性质吗？这组研究人员将从不同的角度来研究这些问题。迪莫普洛斯教授和格雷厄姆教授将专注于开发和提出新技术，利用尖端的现代技术，通过桌面上的实验来探测新粒子（甚至是在已知粒子之间起作用的新力）。Kallosh， Linde和Senatore教授将专注于我们宇宙在最大观测尺度上的行为。许多实验表明，宇宙膨胀得非常迅速，在其历史的早期经历了一段宇宙“暴胀”时期。寻找符合这些数据的暴胀理论模型将是这项工作的一部分。Shenker， Silverstein和Susskind教授将专注于关于引力基础的概念性问题，以及引力和量子力学之间的相互作用。这项工作将包括试图理解黑洞、虫洞和爱因斯坦引力理论中出现的其他神秘物体的奥秘。Kachru教授将专注于理解我们最基本的理论之间的相互作用，这些理论将引力与量子力学和现代数学中的思想统一起来。每一项研究都对自然利益产生了重大而广泛的影响。新的工具将被开发出来，可以应用于不同的科学领域。同样，在进行这项研究的过程中接受培训的学生和博士后可能会以关键的方式为国家服务，无论是通过加入研究和教学的下一代领导者，还是通过将他们的专业知识转移到私营部门重要新技术的开发中。这些教授还将参与外联活动，旨在通过公开讲座、视频和大众出版物，包括公众可访问的书籍，将现代科学的成果带给公众。在更技术性的层面上，迪莫普洛斯教授和格雷厄姆教授将利用原子物理学中的量子干涉效应，将潜在的新物理的间接迹象利用到可探测的水平。量子干涉效应可以测量到非常高的精度。Kallosh和Linde教授将探索宇宙膨胀的超重力和弦理论模型，以及它们与最近限制早期宇宙膨胀的实验的联系。Senatore教授将开发理论框架，以早期宇宙模型为基础预测大规模结构。这样的框架也可以反过来，允许使用观察到的大规模结构数据来预测暴胀参数。申克教授将研究量子引力的低维玩具模型，这可以通过与随机矩阵模型的连接来精确解决。Silverstein教授将研究弦理论的模型，其中所需的额外维度卷曲在负曲率的空间中。事实上，这样的模型为加速膨胀的宇宙学提供了一个自然的家园。Susskind教授将研究信息科学中的复杂性理论与重力之间的联系。最后，Kachru教授将使用场论和弦理论中的对偶性来阐明弦理论的Calabi-Yau紧化的仍然神秘的方面（例如Calabi-Yau度规的显式形式），并研究数论概念和弦紧化之间的联系。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 Savas Dimopoulos, Peter Graham, Shamit Kachru, Renata Kallosh, Andrei Linde, Leonardo Senatore, Stephen Shenker, Eva Silverstein, and Leonard Susskind at Stanford University.As part of their research activities, these nine professors will study a broad range of subjects, all aimed at answering two basic questions: Can we understand the origin and historical evolution of our Universe? And can we determine the nature of the basic building blocks --— the elementary particles —-- that constitute the world around us? This group of researchers will attack these questions from diverse perspectives. Professors Dimopoulos and Graham will focus on developing and proposing new techniques using cutting-edge modern technology to detect new particles (or even new forces that act between known particles) via experiments that fit on a table top. Professors Kallosh, Linde, and Senatore will focus on the behavior of our Universe at the largest observed scales. A number of experiments hint that the Universe expanded very rapidly, undergoing a period of cosmic "inflation" early in its history. Finding theoretical models of inflation that fit this data will be a part of this effort. Professors Shenker, Silverstein, and Susskind will focus on conceptual questions about the foundations of gravity as well as the interplay between gravity and quantum mechanics. This work will include attempts to understand the mysteries of black holes, wormholes, and other enigmatic objects that emerge within Einstein’s theory of gravity. Professor Kachru will focus on understanding the interplay between our most fundamental theories that unify gravity with quantum mechanics and ideas in modern mathematics. Each of these lines of research also has significant broader impacts that are in the natural interest. New tools will be developed which can have applications in diverse areas of science. Likewise, students and postdoctoral fellows who will be trained in the course of performing this research are likely to serve the nation in crucial ways, whether by joining the next generation of leaders in research and teaching, or by transferring their expertise towards the development of important new technologies in the private sector. These professors will also engage in outreach activities designed to bring the fruits of modern science to the general public through public lectures, videos, and popular publications, including books accessible to the general public.At a more technical level, Professors Dimopoulos and Graham will use quantum-interference effects in atomic physics, which can be measured to very high precision, to leverage indirect signs of potential new physics to detectable levels. Professors Kallosh and Linde will explore supergravity and string-theory models of the expanding Universe and their connection to the most recent experiments constraining early-Universe inflation. Professor Senatore will develop theoretical frameworks to predict large-scale structure based on models of the early Universe. Such frameworks can also be turned around, allowing the use of observed large-scale structure data to postdict inflationary parameters. Professor Shenker will study low-dimensional toy models of quantum gravity, which can be solved exactly via connections to models of random matrices. Professor Silverstein will study models of string theory in which the required extra dimensions are curled up on a space of negative curvature. Indeed, such models offer a natural home for cosmologies with accelerated expansion. Professor Susskind will investigate connections between complexity theory in the information sciences and gravity. Finally, Professor Kachru will use dualities in field theory and string theory to elucidate still-mysterious aspects of Calabi-Yau compactification of string theory (such as the explicit form of the Calabi-Yau metric), and also investigate connections between number-theoretic notions and string compactification.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.