Research in High Energy Physics and Cosmology

该奖项资助纽约大学马修·B·克莱班教授的研究活动。宇宙学中有强有力的观测证据表明，我们的宇宙正在以缓慢的速度膨胀，而且非常早期的宇宙经历了一段极快的加速膨胀时期。与此同时，最近提出了几个关于宇宙加速的理论约束，这些约束与这些观测结果截然不同。如何解释宇宙扩张史上的这些神秘特征？在理解这些重大发现的意义上取得突破，将通过潜在地揭示新的自然法则并有助于解释我们宇宙的起源和命运，来促进科学的进步和国家利益。这一奖项将资助马修·克莱班教授对称为轴子的假设粒子理论的研究，这些理论可以解决这些问题。此外，它还将支持他对统计模型物理学的研究，这些模型既可以描述经历加速膨胀的宇宙的遥远未来，也可以描述经历相变的材料表面。最后，它将使他能够继续他在黑洞及其形成和蒸发的量子力学物理方面的工作。克莱班教授的工作还将通过公开演讲和采访的形式产生广泛的影响，并在激励和培训纽约大学的本科生和研究生，以及博士后研究人员和职业生涯早期的科学家方面产生广泛的影响。更严格地说，克莱班教授将研究多轴景观理论及其在宇宙学中的应用，利用他开发的新技术来推动我们对此类理论和总体上的暴涨的理解。他将继续他在布朗环汤方面的工作，建立在与O(N)模型的联系以及作为这一进展所获得的一组精确关联函数和光谱信息的最新突破的基础上。最后，克莱班教授将回到反德西特时空中的量子黑洞话题，调查最近开发的工具可以在多大程度上应用于更高维度的引力理论。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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 Matthew B. Kleban at New York University.There is strong observational evidence in cosmology that the expansion of our universe is accelerating at a slow rate, and that the very early universe underwent a period of extremely rapid accelerated expansion. At the same time, several theoretical constraints on cosmic acceleration have recently been proposed that are in sharp tension with these observations. How can these mysterious features in the expansion history of the universe be explained? A breakthrough in understanding the meaning of these profound discoveries would promote the progress of science and advance the national interest by potentially revealing new laws of nature and helping to explain the origin and fate of our universe. This award will fund the research of Professor Matthew Kleban into theories of hypothetical particles called axions that could address these questions. In addition, it will support his investigations of the physics of statistical models that can describe both the far future of a universe undergoing accelerated expansion and the surfaces of materials undergoing phase transitions. Lastly, it will enable him to continue his work on the quantum-mechanical physics of black holes and their formation and evaporation. Professor Kleban's work will also have a broad impact in the form of public lectures and interviews, and in inspiring and training undergraduate and graduate physics students at NYU, as well as post-doctoral researchers and early-career scientists.More technically, Professor Kleban will study the theory of multi-axion landscapes and their applications to cosmology, making use of the novel techniques he developed to push forward our understanding of such theories and of inflation in general. He will continue his work on the Brownian Loop Soup, building on a recent breakthrough in a connection to the O(n) model and the set of exact correlation functions and spectral information that were obtained as a result of that advance. Finally, Professor Kleban will return to the topic of quantum black holes in anti-de Sitter spacetime, investigating the extent to which recently developed tools can be applied to higher-dimensional theories of gravity.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.