Space-Time Quantization and Dark Matter

该奖项资助贝鲁特美国大学Ali Chamseddine教授的研究活动。理论基本粒子物理学的研究旨在更好地理解自然界的组成部分及其基本相互作用。这是通过寻找和建立理论模型来实现的，这些模型超出了目前已知的范围，可以通过实验验证，或者满足严格的数学要求。这迫使这一领域的研究人员探索知识的前沿，并发明新的方法来分析这些理论。因此，这一领域的研究通过促进科学在需要人类智慧的最具挑战性的方向之一的进步来促进国家利益：发现支配宇宙及其物质成分的物理定律，范围从宇宙到亚原子尺度。作为该项目的一部分，Chamseddine教授将发明新的数学来实现这一科学目标。特别是，Chamseddine教授的研究将继续发展新的几何，描述时空的隐藏结构，并有助于解释为什么自然的行为方式是观察到的。Chamseddine教授还将研究爱因斯坦广义相对论的修正模型，该模型解释了暗物质的起源，并有助于解决一些长期存在的问题，例如在宇宙诞生和黑洞的宇宙学模型中去除奇点。这项工作还将产生更广泛的重要影响。贝鲁特美国大学在中东地区推广美国教育体系方面发挥着非常重要的作用。因此，这笔拨款将有助于在该地区维持世界级的科学研究项目。在技术层面上，Chamseddine教授的研究目标是在量子层面上发展一致的非交换几何模型。一个重要的步骤是确定几何量子，这些量子可以用作构建四维流形及其非交换扩展的物质基石。此外，Chamseddine教授关于新发展的模拟引力的工作将应用于解决宇宙学中的一些突出问题。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 Ali Chamseddine at the American University of Beirut.Theoretical elementary-particle physics research aims to develop a better understanding of the building blocks of nature and their fundamental interactions. This is done by searching for and building theoretical models which go beyond what is presently known and which could be tested by experiments or which satisfy stringent mathematical requirements. This forces researchers in this field to explore the frontiers of knowledge and invent new methods for their analysis of such theories. Thus, research in this area advances the national interest by promoting the progress of science in one of the most challenging directions requiring human ingenuity: finding the physical laws that govern the universe and its matter constituents ranging from cosmic to subatomic scales. As part of this project, Professor Chamseddine will invent new mathematics to reach this scientific goal. In particular, the research of Professor Chamseddine will continue to develop new geometry that describes the hidden structure of spacetime and helps to explain why nature behaves in the way in which it is observed. Professor Chamseddine will also study a modified model of Einstein's General Relativity which explains the origin of dark matter and helps to solve some long-standing problems such as removing singularities in cosmological models at the birth of the universe and for black holes. This work will also have an important broader impact. The American University of Beirut plays a very important role in promoting the American educational system in the Middle East. This grant will therefore help to sustain a world-class scientific research program within that part of the world.At the technical level, the research of Professor Chamseddine is aimed at developing consistent noncommutative geometric models at the quantum level. One important step is to identify quanta of geometry that could be used as building blocks of matter to construct four-dimensional manifolds and their noncommutative extension. In addition, the work of Professor Chamseddine on the newly developed mimetic gravity will be applied to solve some outstanding problems in cosmology.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.