M-Theory, Cosmology and Quantum Field Theory

我们的STFC研究计划研究描述物质、相互作用和时空的基本物理学，重点关注M理论、量子场论和宇宙学相互关联的基本思想。M理论包含弦理论和超重力理论，是我们统一爱因斯坦广义相对论和粒子物理标准模型的中心方法。M理论最显著的特点之一是，它结合了非微扰杨-米尔斯理论在弦和膜方面的双重描述，导致了黑洞和量子场论之间的深刻联系，并对夸克禁闭等强耦合现象有了新的见解。这些联系将继续以许多不同的方式进行探索，包括使用超对称性、新的几何结构、精确可积的量子场理论模型和无质量高自旋激发理论。一个最终的目标是确定M理论的基本自由度，这将对粒子物理现象学产生深远的影响。利用解析和数值方法，我们将构造和研究具有新性质的黑洞解，这些解对夸克-胶子等离子体和一些鲜为人知的凝聚态系统，如高温超导体、奇异金属和绝缘体都有重要的潜在应用。在大量新数据的推动下，宇宙学仍然是一个充满活力的研究领域，特别是最近引力波的突破性发现。宇宙结构和起源的关键线索将在宇宙微波背景的细节中找到。这将通过分析数据和研究希格斯场的宇宙学含义以及粒子物理标准模型在膨胀情况下的扩展，为我们的活动提供一个重点。我们将解决的一个中心问题是，从新的重力波测量中可以提取哪些信息，特别是这如何限制重力和暗能量模型。我们将着眼于描述修改后的引力理论，例如引力子有质量的地方，并研究它们的宇宙学特征，以及更一般的研究如何从宇宙学数据中提取量子引力的印记，例如时空的基本离散性。我们还继续开发新颖的全球统计工具，这些工具借鉴了许多不同的实验，以提取对模型的最强可能限制。

Our STFC research programme investigates the fundamental physics that describes matter, interactions and spacetime, focusing on the interrelated essential ideas of M-theory, quantum field theory and cosmology. M-theory, which subsumes string theory and supergravity theory, is our central approach to unifying Einstein's theory of General Relativity with the Standard Model of particle physics. One of the most remarkable features of M-theory is that it incorporates dual descriptions of non-perturbative Yang-Mills theories in terms of strings and branes, leading to profound connections between black holes and quantum field theory and also to new insights into strong coupling phenomena such as quark confinement. These connections will continue to be explored in a number of different ways, including using supersymmetry, novel geometric constructions, exactly integrable quantum field theory models and theories with massless higher-spin excitations. An ultimate goal is to determine the fundamental degrees of freedom of M-theory which would have profound implications for particle physics phenomenology. Using both analytical and numerical techniques we will construct and study black-hole solutions with novel properties that have important potential applications to both the quark-gluon plasma and poorly understood systems in condensed matter such as high-temperature superconductors, exotic metals and insulators. Cosmology continues to be a highly vibrant area of study driven by a wealth of new data, in particular the recent ground-breaking discovery of gravitational waves. Key clues to the structure and the origin of the universe are to be found in the details of the cosmic microwave background. This will provide one focus of our activities both through analysing data and by studying the cosmological implications of the Higgs field and extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics in inflationary scenarios. A central question we will address is what information can be extracted from new gravity waves measures, in particular how this constrains models of gravity and dark energy. We will look to characterise modified theories of gravity, for instance where the graviton has a mass, and study their cosmological features, and more generally study how to extract imprints of quantum gravity, such as fundamental discreteness of spacetime, on cosmological data. We also continue to develop novel, global statistical tools that draw on many different experiments in order to extract the strongest possible constraints on models.