"Particles, Strings and Fields"

这个研究项目的目标是在理论基本粒子物理学的前沿产生新的知识，目的是在最基本的层面上更好地理解自然。这包括孕育和发展弦理论和量子场论的新思想，并将它们应用于对高能前沿基本粒子物理学的理解。其中一个重点是应用AdS/CFT对偶性来尽可能多地了解规范场理论在强耦合状态下的行为。在目前的“大型强子对撞机时代”，希格斯粒子和其他粒子有望在未来几年内被发现，这些粒子可能会给标准模型之外的物理学提供线索。有一种明显的可能性是，标准模型的电弱部分比预期的更强耦合，我们的策略是推导关于强耦合规范理论的新技术和结果，目的是能够在TeV尺度上研究强耦合物理，当暗示这种物理可能出现时。这将包括一个新的观点，如动态对称性破缺的彩色机制。

The objective if this research program is to generate new knowledge on the frontiers of theoretical elementary particle physics with the aim of achieving a better understanding of nature at its most fundamental level. This includes the incubation and development of new ideas in string theory and quantum field theory and on applying them to the understanding of the physics of elementary particles at the high energy frontier. One focus is the application of AdS/CFT duality to learn as much as possible about the behavior of gauge field theories in their strong coupling regime. In the current ``age of the LHC'', it is expected that the Higgs particle and perhaps other particles which would give hints about physics beyond the standard model could be discovered within the next few years. There is the distinct possibility that the electroweak sector of the standard model is more strongly coupled than was anticipated and our strategy is to derive new techniques and results about strongly coupled gauge theories with the aim of being able to study strong coupling physics at the TeV scale when hints as to what this physics might be emerge. This will include a fresh look at ideas such as the technicolor mechanism for dynamical symmetry breaking. We shall also work to develop our understanding of the mathematical structure of gauge field theories, mostly through advances in understanding of supersymmetric theories, development of the suspected exact integrability of N=4 Yang Mills theory and the relationship between integrable models and vacua of N=2 theorie. Our work presently focuses on nonperturbative phenomena, mostly in N=4 theory, for example, our ongoing study of the Schwinger pair production of W-bosons in strong electric fields, where we have found that we could use AdS/CFT duality to take into account planar gluon corrections to all orders in the coupling constant and thereby obtain a generalization of Schwinger's amplitude with interesting consequences. Some of our work has significant overlap with condensed matter physics.