Scattering Amplitudes and Correlation Functions

该奖项资助亚利桑那州立大学安德烈·别里茨基教授的研究活动。可观测的宇宙是由原子组成的。反过来，原子是由被电子云包围的原子核形成的。质子和中子结合在一起就形成了这些原子核。进一步放大质子和中子，就会遇到夸克和它们的反粒子(反夸克)，它们是物质的最基本成分。夸克和反夸克被强大的力相互吸引。这种力是如此强大，以至于不可能看到单独的夸克-它们总是以不同的构型束缚在一起。如果一个人试图将它们分开，所消耗的能量会立即转化为从空白空间产生新的夸克-反夸克对，而这些新粒子反过来又会与人们试图分离的粒子结合在一起。这些现象背后的理论-即量子色动力学(QCD)--自1974年以来一直为人所知。然而，到目前为止，还没有人成功地解决了这个理论，这并不是因为缺乏努力。揭示强力的内部工作机制对于理解物理学的基本定律至关重要，因此符合国家利益，因为它促进了美国基础科学的发展。作为该项目的一部分，别里茨基教授计划开发理论方法，以减轻人们在理解夸克等强相互作用粒子时面临的复杂性。他还致力于为将为该项目做出宝贵贡献的研究生和本科生提供建议和指导。此外，别里茨基教授发表了广受欢迎的演讲，也指导和指导初中生和高中生，从而提高了公众对粒子物理的认识。在更技术性的层面上，别里茨基教授将致力于一个有前途的范例，将强力理论(QCD)重新表述为有效的扩展自由度理论。在过去的二十年里，这个领域通过QCD的超对称表亲的规范/弦对应，见证了这些想法的明确实施。首席研究人员将开发和推广用于分析这些模型中两种类型的可观测的工具：时空S矩阵和规范不变算符的相关器。主要的方法是基于它们的几何化和所产生的二维世界表的可积动力学的使用。一个明确的实现包括一系列重叠的过渡方面的新出现的字符串世界表，然后这些过渡被引导到耦合中的所有订单。沿着这些思路，PI还将推行一项用于壳外散射幅度及其可积动力学特性的形式因数计划。该奖项反映了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 Andrei Belitsky at Arizona State University.The observable Universe is composed of atoms. Atoms, in turn, are formed by nuclei surrounded by clouds of electrons. Protons and neutrons are bound together to form these nuclei. Zooming further into the protons and neutrons, one encounters quarks and their antiparticles (antiquarks), which are the most fundamental components of matter. The quarks and antiquarks are attracted to each other by the Strong Force. This force is so strong that it is impossible to see individual quarks --- they are always bound together in various configurations. If one tries to pull them apart, the energy expended to do this is immediately converted into the creation of new quark-antiquark pairs from empty space, and those new particles in turn bind to the particles that one was attempting to isolate. A theory underlying these phenomena --- namely Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) --- has been known since 1974. However, up to now no one has succeeded in solving this theory, and this is not due to a lack of effort. Uncovering the inner workings of the Strong Force will be of paramount importance for understanding the fundamental laws of physics, and is therefore in the national interest because it fosters the development of fundamental science in the United States. As part of this project, Professor Belitsky plans to develop theoretical methods for alleviating the complications one faces in understanding strongly interacting particles such as quarks. He is also engaged in advising and mentoring students at the graduate and undergraduate levels who will make valuable contributions to the project. Moreover, Professor Belitsky delivers popular presentations and also mentors and guides middle- and high-school students, thereby increasing the public awareness of particle physics.On a more technical level, Professor Belitsky will work on a promising paradigm to reformulate the theory of the strong force (QCD) as an effective theory of extended degrees of freedom. Over the past two decades, the field witnessed an explicit implementation of these ideas through the gauge/string correspondence for supersymmetric cousins of QCD. The Principal Investigator will develop and generalize tools for analyses of two types of observables in these models: spacetime S-matrices and correlators of gauge-invariant operators. The main approach is based on their geometrization and use of integrable dynamics of the resulting two-dimensional worldsheet. An explicit implementation includes a tessellation of emerging string worldsheets in terms of overlapping transitions which are then bootstrapped to all orders in coupling. Along these lines, the PI will also pursue a form-factor program for off-shell scattering amplitudes and the properties of its integrable dynamics.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.