The QCD Mass Spectrum

量子色动力学(QCD)是描述强核力的物理学理论。强力负责将质子和中子结合在一起形成原子核。然而，我们现在知道质子和中子本身是由被称为夸克的更小的粒子组成的，因此，从这个意义上说，强力应该被认为是负责将夸克结合在一起的相互作用。像质子和中子这样由夸克组成的粒子统称为强子，在过去的75年里，大量新的强子已经被发现。因此，今天粒子物理学的一个主要目标是根据夸克的已知性质来预测强子的性质。这比听起来困难得多！整体并不是这里各部分的总和。目前，我的主要研究兴趣是试图利用我们目前对组成强子的夸克的理解来计算强子的质量。我计划用两种不同但互补的方法来解决这个问题。第一种方法叫格子QCD，涉及在超级计算机上运行计算。第二种技术是QCD求和规则，更多的是铅笔和纸(和个人电脑！)解决这个问题的方法。强子质量的计算是QCD中一个核心的突出问题，解决这个问题将极大地有助于我们对宇宙的基本理解。

Quantum chromodynamics (QCD) is the theory of physics that describes the strong nuclear force.  The strong force is responsible for binding together protons and neutrons to form atomic nuclei.  However, we now know that protons and neutrons themselves are made up of even smaller particles known as quarks and so, in this light, the strong force ought to be thought of as the interaction responsible for binding quarks together.  Particles like protons and neutrons which are comprised of quarks are collectively referred to as hadrons, and, in the last 75 years, loads of new hadrons have been discovered.  A major goal in particle physics today then is to predict hadron properties from known properties of quarks.  This is a lot tougher than it sounds!  The whole is not simply the sum of the parts here.Currently, my main research interests are in trying to compute masses of hadrons using our current understanding of the quarks that comprise them.  I plan to address this problem using two distinct but complementary approaches.  The first is called lattice QCD and involves running calculations on a supercomputer.  The second technique, QCD sum-rules, is more of of a pencil and paper (and personal computer!) approach to the problem.Computing hadron masses is a central outstanding problem in QCD, and a solution would greatly contribute to our fundamental understanding of the universe.