Effective Field Theory for Hadronic Physics

欧洲核子研究中心的大型强子对撞机（LHC）目前正在研究最小实验可达距离的物质性质。通过高能质子碰撞，物理学家在质子大小的1/10，000的距离上探测物理世界的细节，通过研究这些碰撞的碎片，他们能够推断新的亚原子粒子和力的存在，例如最近发现的希格斯玻色子。 由于质子-质子碰撞是非常复杂的事件，因此需要进行大量的理论工作，以便将探测器中测量到的信号与碰撞中微观物理的细节联系起来。 特别是，在碰撞中产生的称为夸克和胶子的亚原子粒子在撞击探测器时变成了高能粒子射流。 计算这一过程的细节，从而从测量结果中推断出短距离碰撞的性质，是一项具有挑战性的任务。 近年来，一种被称为“有效场论”的技术在帮助解开这些复杂性方面非常成功。 拟议的研究重点是有效场理论在射流产生中的应用的理论研究 在大型强子对撞机，与目标增加的准确性理论预测的大型强子对撞机。 这将提高LHC测量亚原子世界细节的准确性。这项研究主要是作为基础研究，增加我们对周围世界的了解;然而，还有更多的实际好处。 粒子物理学往往会吸引物理学领域一些最聪明的人才，并训练他们进行严格和创造性的思考。 那些最终没有从事物理学职业的人往往在其他领域有很大的影响力（金融和计算机是两个明显的例子）。 外国研究生和博士后经常选择留在加拿大，提供了“智力增长”的例子。"

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN is currently studying the nature of matter at the smallest experimentally accessible distances. By colliding protons at high energies, physicists probe the details of the physical world at distances of order 1/10,000th the size of the proton, and by studying the debris of these collisions they are able to infer the existence of new subatomic particles and forces, such as the recently-discovered Higgs Boson. Because proton-proton collisions are incredibly complex events, a great deal of theoretical work is required in order to relate the signals measured in detectors to the details of the microscopic physics in the collision. In particular, subatomic particles called quarks and gluons produced in the collisions turn into energetic jets of particles by the time they hit the detectors. Calculating the details of this process, and hence inferring the properties of the short-distance collision from the measurements, is a challenging task. A technique known as "effective field theory" has proved very successful in recent years in helping unravel some of these complexities. The proposed research focuses on theoretical studies of the application of effective field theory to the production of jets at the LHC, with the goal of increasing the accuracy of theoretical predictions for the LHC. This in term will increase the accuracy with which the LHC can measure the details of the subatomic world. This research is of benefit primarily as basic research, increasing our understanding of the world around us; however, there are more practical benefits. Particle physics tends to attract some of the brightest minds in physics and trains them to think rigorously and creatively. Those that do not end up pursuing careers in physics often have great impact in other fields (finance and computing being two obvious examples). Foreign graduate students and postdocs often choose to stay in Canada, providing examples of "brain-gain."