Novel Astrophysical Windows into Fundamental Physics

过去的十年对宇宙学来说是令人难以置信的激动人心的十年：两个诺贝尔奖被授予宇宙微波背景(CMB)各向异性和暗能量的发现。地面和天基天文台为我们提供了迄今为止最详细的宇宙早期和晚期地图。此外，一个六参数模型可以近乎完美地描述所有这些宇宙数据集的统计数据。天体物理观测方面同样令人兴奋的进步，从中子星、黑洞到高能中微子，都为检验我们物理理论极限的极端条件打开了一扇窗。 尽管取得了令人难以置信的经验上的成功，但几个深层次的谜题继续困扰着我们对物理宇宙的理解：主导宇宙能量收支的宇宙真空的起源是什么？在银河系尺度上驱动引力的暗物质的性质和结构是什么？宇宙中大多数普通物质是什么状态？大爆炸的本质是什么？物质落入黑洞时会发生什么？最后两个问题(可能还有其他问题)最终与仍然难以捉摸的引力量子本质有关，这个问题困扰了理论物理学近一个世纪。 理论物理的推测前沿和经验数据的现实之间的鸿沟比以往任何时候都更大、更快；因此，必须在我们最有希望的理论和我们最先进的望远镜之间找到更多的共同点。这项提议的计划是根据最新的宇宙学和天体物理观测的线索，并通过应用最先进的数字和统计方法，探索上述谜题的具体和可测试的解决方案。 现代宇宙学最显著的特征之一是，宇宙中近99%的能量密度要么无法识别，要么对我们来说是不可见的。在现象学方面，这一建议提供了一个具体的计划，将先进的观测数据和统计方法与理论见解相结合，对这些无形的组成部分进行建模和映射。在更深的层面上，它旨在将量子引力的基本性质与早期的宇宙宇宙学和晚期的天体物理现象联系起来。它还将展示这些想法是如何具体的，并可用当前和未来的数据进行显著检验，从而符合科学方法的最高标准。 历史告诉我们，从根本上改变我们社会的技术突破往往来自于对抽象科学和数学中的深层次奥秘的解析。今天对我们宇宙更深入的理解的追求将不可避免地为我们文明的未来(物质或智力)进步提供成分。

The past decade has been an incredibly exciting one for Cosmology: Two Nobel prizes were awarded for the discoveries of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) anisotropies, and dark energy. Ground and space-based observatories provided us with the most detailed maps of the early and late universe yet. Moreover, a six-parameter model can describe the statistics of all these cosmological datasets, nearly perfectly. Equally exciting advances in astrophysical observations, from neutron stars and black holes to high-energy neutrinos, have opened windows into extreme conditions that test the limits of our physical theories. In spite of this incredible empirical success, several deep puzzles continue to haunt our understanding of the physical universe: What is the origin of the cosmological vacuum that dominates the energy budget of the Universe? What is the nature and structure of the Dark Matter that drives gravity on galactic scales? What is the state of most of the ordinary matter in the universe? What is the nature of the big bang? What happens to matter as it falls into a black hole? These last two questions (and possibly others) are ultimately related to the still elusive quantum nature of gravity, which has haunted theoretical physics for close to a century. The divide between the speculative forefronts of theoretical physics and the realities of empirical data is growing wider, faster than ever; thus it is imperative to find more common ground between our most promising theories and our most advanced telescopes. The plan of this proposal is to explore concrete and testable solutions to the puzzles outlined above, based on hints from the most recent cosmological and astrophysical observations, and by applying the state-of-the art numerical and statistical methods. One of the most striking features of modern cosmology is that close to 99 percent of energy density of the universe remains either unidentified, or invisible to us. On the phenomenological front, this proposal provides a concrete plan to model and map these invisible components, combining advanced observational data and statistical methods with theoretical insights. On a deeper level, it aims to bridge the fundamental nature of quantum gravity, with early universe cosmology, and late-time astrophysical phenomena. It will also demonstrate how these ideas are concrete and eminently testable against current and future data, and thus conform to the highest standards of the scientific method. History has taught us that technological breakthroughs that fundamentally revolutionize our society often come out of the resolution to deep mysteries in abstract sciences and mathematics. Today's quest for a deeper understanding of our Universe will inevitably provide the ingredients of the future (material or intellectual) advancement of our civilization.