Quantum Field Theory and String Theory

该奖项资助普林斯顿大学西尔维乌·普夫教授的研究活动。理论物理学中的一个重要问题是找到控制由大量相互作用非常强的成分组成的系统行为的普遍模式。这类系统的例子包括高压下的沸水，或者由重离子碰撞形成的等离子体，以及目前仅被推测存在的量子物质的新相。Pufu教授将开发理论工具来理解描述这些系统的短距离行为的物理学如何限制描述这些系统在更长的尺度上的行为的物理学。这些工具部分基于弦理论的思想，人们可以通过研究高维空间中的引力来研究这种强相互作用的系统。该领域的研究通过促进科学在其最基本的方向之一的进步：发现和理解新的物理定律，从而促进了国家利益。这个项目还有一个重要的教育和指导组成部分，包括让本科生、研究生和博士后参与研究，从而为他们成功的科学事业做好准备。在更技术性的层面上，这个项目的目标之一是增强我们对量子系统如何被全息描述为更高维度的量子引力理论的理解。为此，浦富教授将探索具有自旋算子的共形场论相关子与一维以上平面空间散射振幅之间的关系。他还将使用一种有效的场论方法来研究量子引力的哪些信息是用诸如全息对偶共形场论的球体自由能等量来编码的。最后，Pufu教授将研究规范/重力对偶性的玩具模型，这些模型是基于具有超对称性的强相互作用量子场论的精确结果。该项目的另一个目标是研究二维量子色动力学的类似物，可用于提取有关探测夸克的颜色限制和筛选的教训。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 Silviu Pufu at Princeton University.One of the important problems in theoretical physics is that of finding universal patterns governing the behavior of systems composed of large numbers of constituents that interact very strongly. Examples of such systems range from boiling water at high pressure, or the plasma that forms as a result of a collision between heavy ions, to new phases of quantum matter that currently are only conjectured to exist. Professor Pufu will develop theoretical tools for understanding how the physics that describes the short-distance behavior of such systems constrains the physics that describes the behavior of these systems at longer length scales. These tools are partly based on ideas from string theory, whereby one can study such strongly-interacting systems by instead studying gravity in a higher-dimensional space. 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 new physical laws. This project also has an important educational and mentoring component which includes engaging undergraduates, graduate students, and postdocs in research, and thereby preparing them for successful scientific careers.At a more technical level, one of the goals of this project is to enhance our understanding of how a quantum system can be described holographically as a higher-dimensional theory of Quantum Gravity. Towards this goal, Professor Pufu will explore the relation between conformal field theory correlators of operators with spin, and flat-space scattering amplitudes in one dimension higher. He will also use an effective field theory approach to investigate what information about Quantum Gravity is encoded in quantities such as the sphere free energy of conformal field theories with holographic duals. Lastly, Professor Pufu will study toy models of the gauge/gravity duality that are based on exact results in strongly-interacting quantum field theories that possess supersymmetry. Another goal of this project is to study analogs of Quantum Chromodynamics in two dimensions that can be used to extract lessons about color confinement and screening of probe quarks.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.