Research in Particle Theory, Cosmology, and Quantum Gravity

Stanford University, Stanford CA

Investigators

Abstract

This award funds the research activities of Professors Savas Dimopoulos, Peter Graham, Renata Kallosh, Andrei Linde, Stephen Shenker, Eva Silverstein, and Leonard Susskind at Stanford University. This group of physicists studies a broad range of subjects all aimed at answering two basic questions: Can we understand the origin and historical evolution of our Universe? And can we determine the nature of the basic building blocks --- the elementary particles --- that constitute the world around us? As part of their research, these physicists will attempt to discover dark matter, the mysterious substance that makes up most of the matter in the universe, by designing new detectors based on quantum sensor technology. They will also explore the beginnings of our universe using information contained in some of the earliest ‘pictures’ from mere moments after the big bang. Finally, they will investigate the nature of black holes in order to gain a better understanding of the fundamental laws of nature. This research also has significant broader impacts. New tools will be developed which can have applications in diverse areas of science. Students and postdoctoral fellows who are trained in the course of performing this research will move on to serve the nation in crucial ways, whether by joining the next generation of leaders in research and teaching, or by transferring their expertise to firms which develop important new technologies in Silicon Valley and beyond. These faculty will also expend considerable effort in outreach activities in order to bring the fruits of modern science to the general public through public lectures, videos, and popular publications, including books accessible to the general public. At a more technical level, Dimopoulos will search for innovative approaches for manipulating and detecting the Cosmic Neutrino Background (CnuB). This includes the construction of a Diffraction Grating for the CnuB, which involves structures approximately ten meters in size. This technique significantly amplifies the net neutrino excess by several orders of magnitude, potentially serving as a crucial initial step towards uncovering the CnuB. Graham will design and optimize dark matter detectors using electron and ion traps to search for millicharged particles, axions, and dark photons. Graham will also discover the science available with gravitational wave observations in the ‘mid-band’, roughly 0.01 – 10 Hz, which will help in the design and operation of previously proposed atomic gravitational wave detectors such as MAGIS. Kallosh and Linde will explore inflationary theory and the theory of dark energy inspired by supergravity and string theory. Shenker will investigate the fine structure of quantum black holes. He will use two-dimensional models that have proven useful in studying non-perturbative effects in quantum gravity. He will also study BPS black hole states in supersymmetric theories. Silverstein will extend her 3d de Sitter microstate count in pure gravity to incorporate local bulk matter and derive physical implications of M theory de Sitter models from hyperbolic compactifications. She will systematize the theory of non-perturbative non-Gaussianity and its relation to large scale structure analysis and develop novel algorithms for AI. Susskind’s research involves holography, and several candidates for holographic systems which may describe de Sitter spaces have already been identified. These include matrix theories similar to BFSS matrix theory, and a promising candidate based on the double-scaled limit of Sachdev-Yeh-Kitaev theory at infinite temperature. 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.