Research in String Theory, Supergravity and Cosmology

弦理论、超引力和宇宙学研究

基本信息

批准号：
2013988
负责人：
Timm Wrase
金额：
$ 20万
依托单位：
Lehigh University
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Continuing Grant
财政年份：
2020
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2020-09-01 至 2024-08-31
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2013988&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
Research String Theory Supergravity Cosmology

项目摘要

This award funds the research activities of Professor Timm Wrase at Lehigh University.More than a hundred years after Albert Einstein discovered his theory of general relativity, we are still working on unifying it with quantum mechanics, the theory that governs the subatomic world. String theory, the leading candidate in this endeavor, has already provided deep insights into what is and what is not possible in a theory of quantum gravity. Some of these insights, like the requirement that the gravitational force be weaker than the other forces in any theoretically consistent universe, are widely accepted. However, there are also other much more speculative ideas. For example, our universe is filled with a mysterious so-called dark energy that counteracts gravity and pushes galaxies apart. It was recently conjectured that such a dark energy has to become weaker over time. As part of his research, Professor Wrase will study this and other related conjectures that make interesting predictions for our own universe. The goal of these investigations is to provide theoretical predictions that can be compared to on-going and future cosmological observations of dark energy and a period of so-called cosmological inflation that is believed to have taken place during the very early universe. This project is also expected to have significant broader impacts. Professor Wrase will involve graduate students and a postdoc in his research, and thereby provide critical training for junior physicists beginning research in this field. He also intends to give public lectures on the topics of his research.More technically, Professor Wrase will study cosmological applications of string theory such as inflation and dS vacua. There are a variety of related swampland conjectures that need to be better understood and made more precise. For example, the status of dS vacua and large-field inflation in string theory are highly debated. Improving our understanding of existing constructions and/or deriving potential no-go theorems will help us in either putting such conjectures on more solid footing or refuting them. This should help in confronting future cosmological observations with improved theoretical predictions for quantities such as the equation of state of dark energy or the tensor-to-scalar ratio during inflation. Another goal of this project is to improve our understanding of supersymmetry breaking in string theory, in particular by studying non-supersymmetric Dp-branes and their connections to non-linear and misaligned supersymmetry.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该奖项为利哈伊大学（Lehigh University）的蒂姆·沃斯（Timm Wrase）教授的研究活动提供资金。在阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦（Albert Einstein）发现他的一般相对论理论之后，我们仍在努力将其与量子力学统一，该理论负责管理亚原子世界。弦理论是这项努力中的主要候选人，已经为量子重力理论中的是什么和不可能的深刻见解。这些见解中的一些，例如，在理论上一致的宇宙中，重力比其他力弱的要求被广泛接受。但是，还有其他更具投机性的想法。例如，我们的宇宙充满了一个神秘的所谓黑暗能量，可以抵消重力并将星系拆开。最近有人猜想，随着时间的流逝，这种黑能必须变得越来越弱。作为他的研究的一部分，Wrase教授将研究这一和其他相关的猜想，这些猜想对我们自己的宇宙做出了有趣的预测。这些研究的目的是提供理论预测，这些预测可以与持续的和未来的宇宙学观察结果和未来的宇宙学观察以及所谓的宇宙学通货膨胀时期，据信是在早期宇宙中发生的。预计该项目将产生更大的影响。 Wrase教授将参与研究生和博士后的研究，从而为初级物理学家开始在该领域的研究提供了重要的培训。他还打算就他的研究主题进行公开讲座。从技术上讲，Wrase教授将研究弦理论的宇宙学应用，例如通货膨胀和DS Vacua。有多种相关的Swampland猜想需要更好地理解并更加精确。例如，在弦理论中，DS真空和大型膨胀的状态是有争议的。提高我们对现有结构和/或获得潜在的无需定理的理解将有助于我们提出更坚实的基础或反驳它们。这应该有助于与未来的宇宙学观察结果，并改善了诸如通货膨胀期间暗能状态或张量比之比等数量的理论预测。该项目的另一个目的是提高我们对弦理论中超对称性破裂的理解，特别是通过研究非s骨的DP-BRANES及其与非线性和未匹配的超级对称性的联系。该奖项反映了NSF的法规任务，并认为通过基金会的知识优点和广泛的crietia crietia criter crietia criter criteria criter criteria criteria criteria criteria criteria crietia criteria crietia criteria crietia criteria crietia均值得一提。