Research on Gravitation and Quantum Fluctuation Phenomena

万有引力与量子涨落现象研究

• 批准号: 0855360
• 负责人: Lawrence Ford
• 金额: $ 24万
• 依托单位: Tufts University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-08-15 至 2012-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0855360&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Research; Gravitation; Quantum; Fluctuation; Phenomena

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). This project will involve theoretical studies of several topics relating to quantum fluctuations and gravitation. Particular attention will be paid to issues relating to the correlation and anti-correlation of fluctuations of the quantum stress tensor that describes, among other things, the local energy density in a quantum field. The topics to be investigated include the effects of quantum stress tensor fluctuation in cosmology, especially in inflationary models. Previous work by the PI and his collaborators has indicated that these effects may be able to slowly accumulate, and thereby have a potentially significant role in the evolution of the universe. This possibility will be further studied. A closely related topic is the search for the probability distribution for stress tensor fluctuations, which is of interest in inflationary models, including ones which explore the possibility of a "multiverse" much larger than the observable universe. Other aspects of this project will seek to propose new laboratory experiments looking for negative energy density and related "sub-vacuum" phenomena, where some quantity fluctuates below its usual value in empty space. The project will examine selected aspects of the Casimir force, especially its fluctuations, and of fluctuations in condensed matter systems. These topics are of interest both for their own sake, and as analog models to better understand quantum effects in gravity theory. This project is expected to have a broader impact through possible benefits to other fields of science, to education, and to technology. The insights and techniques of this work may be useful outside of the specific subfields of physics being investigated. The project will further education through the training of graduate students and by the involvement of faculty at primarily teaching institutions. It should also produce examples which can be used to explain some of the concepts of quantum theory and relativity to students on a variety of educational levels. The work on Casimir forces may eventually be useful in nanotechnology. A better knowledge of Casimir forces is likely to become important for the construction of small scale devices. Similarly, the study of quantum correlations in this project may have applications to quantum information and quantum computing.

该奖项是根据2009年《美国复苏与再投资法》（公法111-5）资助的。该项目将涉及与量子波动和引力有关的几个主题的理论研究。将特别注意与量子应力张量的相关性和反相关有关的问题，该量子应力张量描述了量子场中的局部能量密度。要研究的主题包括宇宙学中量子应力张量波动的影响，尤其是在通货膨胀模型中。 PI及其合作者的先前工作表明，这些影响可能能够慢慢积累，从而在宇宙的发展中具有潜在的重要作用。这种可能性将进一步研究。一个密切相关的主题是寻找应力张量波动的概率分布，这在通货膨胀模型中引起了人们的关注，其中包括探索比可观察到的宇宙大得多的“多元宇宙”的可能性。该项目的其他方面将寻求提出新的实验室实验，以寻求负能量密度和相关的“亚vacuum”现象，其中一些数量在空白空间中的常规价值低于其通常的价值。该项目将检查Casimir力的某些方面，尤其是其波动以及冷凝物质系统中的波动。这些主题既是为了自身而是为了更好地理解重力理论中的量子效应，又是一个模型。预计该项目将通过对其他科学，教育和技术领域的可能利益产生更大的影响。这项工作的见解和技术可能在研究的特定子场之外有用。该项目将通过培训研究生的培训以及教师参与主要教学机构的进一步教育。它还应该产生可以用来解释量子理论的某些概念和对学生在各种教育水平上的相对论的概念。关于卡西米尔部队的工作最终可能在纳米技术中有用。对Casimir部队的更好了解对于建造小型设备可能很重要。同样，该项目中量子相关性的研究可能在量子信息和量子计算中应用。