This collaborative award funds the research activities of Professors Sebastian Franco and V.P. Nair at the City College of the City University of New York, and Professor Daniel Kabat at Lehman College of the City University of New York.
This project aims to further our understanding of nature at its most fundamental level, tackling questions in quantum field theory (QFT), gravity, and string theory. Professors Franco, Nair, and Kabat will study the dynamics of QFT's in various dimensions, a topic of fundamental importance since QFT's provide a general framework through which physicists study subjects ranging from the behavior of the elementary particles to the physics of condensed matter. Professors Franco, Nair, and Kabat will approach this problem from multiple perspectives, including the use of string-theoretic tools. They will also investigate the entanglement of quantum states --- a mysterious phenomenon that has bearing on diverse topics such as quantum computing and strange new phases of matter. As such, research in these directions advances the national interest by pushing forward the boundaries of fundamental science within the United States. This research also has significant broader impact components. Professors Franco, Nair, and Kabat will actively involve undergraduate and graduate students as well as postdoctoral associates in their research, providing ideal training to junior physicists entering research in this field. This research project will also strengthen the close collaboration between City College and Lehman College. Maintaining a joint research program has had a positive impact on attracting students to these research areas, especially from minority and underrepresented groups which constitute a large part of the student body at both colleges. Professors Franco, Nair, and Kabat will also continue and expand a broad outreach program that they established in recent years at City College, building partnerships with several local institutions which serve underprivileged populations.
More technically, the key objectives of this research can be organized into three areas: 1) Quantum field theory, its applications and variants including the Casimir effect, entanglement, noncommutative geometry and gravity, and infrared behavior of non-abelian gauge theories; 2) The dynamics and dualities of QFT's in various dimensions, and development and application of novel brane constructions for these purposes; and 3) String-theoretic investigations into nonperturbative D-brane instanton effects, reconstruction of bulk physics in the AdS/CFT correspondence, and holographic cosmology.
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.
