CAREER: From the QCD Flux Tubes to Black Holes and Back

New York University, New York NY

Investigators

Abstract

This award funds the research activities of Professor Sergey Dubovskiy at the New York University. Effective field theory has proven to be an extremely successful and powerful framework for describing a wide range of phenomena from particle collisions at the Large Hadron Collider to the growth of density perturbations in cosmic fluids. However, it is challenged by two dramatic breakdowns of dimensional analysis---the incredible smallness of the vacuum energy and of the Higgs mass, compared to the characteristic scale of gravity. With the hope of helping to resolve these puzzles, Professor Dubovskiy aims to enrich the effective field theory toolbox with new sophisticated techniques and to come up with and test new radical theoretical ideas beyond the traditional framework. At the same time he will be looking for new observational probes, which may provide new hints on the origin of the Higgs mass and the vacuum energy. The research of Professor Dubovskiy will cover a broad spectrum of physical phenomena, ranging from the superradiant instability of astrophysical black holes as a tool to discover new particles to the dynamics of flux tubes, responsible for the confinement of quarks. The research that will be funded covers not only a wide range of topics in high energy theory and cosmology, but has an impact throughout the Physics Division. For example, studies of the vacuum structure of string theory has led Prof. Dubovskiy to propose a new type of particle related to the axion, which would constitute the dark matter. Studying the interactions of this dark matter with black holes has led to extraordinary experimental signatures, ranging from astrophysical studies of black hole masses to specific gravitational wave signatures that are in the range accessible to the Advanced Large Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO). These will be studied in detail. There are also substantial interrelations with atomic physics and with nuclear physics. One of the other projects will contribute to understanding the dynamics of flux tubes, which hold quarks together in the nucleon. The award will also fund community outreach activities. Professor Dubovskiy will contribute to the development of the NYU Science Communication Workshop program, which helps train a generation of scientists in effective communication with the public, and the award will support numerous scientists. He also will give presentations on particle physics and cosmology at a local high school. In addition, the research project relies on the active involvement of graduate students and postdocs, thereby bringing junior physicists to the frontiers of fundamental physics research.