Geometrizing Quantum Field Theory

Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore MD

Investigators

Abstract

This award funds the research activities of Professor Ibrahima Bah at Johns Hopkins University. Over the years many fundamental principles about nature have been discovered and understood. The grandest of such principles are enshrined within quantum mechanics, quantum field theory, and the general theory of relativity. These frameworks have led to many technological breakthroughs. For example, because of quantum mechanics, physicists were able to build computers and study and discover new materials; similarly, because of general relativity, physicists were able to calculate the necessary precision in timing needed by communication satellites and global-positioning satellites. However, such frameworks have also allowed physicists to develop a complete picture of the basic laws of nature and to understand the dynamics of objects stretching from the elementary particles of nature and the forces between them to entire galaxies and the universe at large. Research that attempts to extend these frontiers therefore serves the national interest by furthering the development of fundamental scientific knowledge in the United States. Professor Bah's research involves studying and classifying the general and fundamental phenomena that can emerge from these theoretical frameworks and the interplay between them. This has broad impact in the study of physics in the very early universe, the study of the basic constituents of black holes, and the study of the initial singularity that led to the Big Bang. Through his research activities Professor Bah will also train graduate students and postdocs in various branches of physics and mathematics. Likewise, through his outreach activities, Professor Bah will aim to excite a scientific interest in young people. More technically, Professor Bah will study various methods used to geometrically define quantum field theories. This is achieved by studying higher-dimensional quantum field theories in five and six dimensions on various curved manifolds. Such geometrization can be naturally imported in gravity through holography and AdS/CFT. This allows for Professor Bah to use gravity to explicitly study and construct many classes of quantum field theories which generically do not admit a Lagrangian description. The main objective of this research is to provide alternative tools for studying strong dynamics in quantum field theory. 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.