This award supports cooperative research in field theory between Dr. B. L. Hu, Professor of Physics at the University of Maryland and Dr. E. Calzetta, Dr. J. P. Paz, research physicists of the Institute for Astronomy and Space Physics (IAFE), Argentina. This collaboration has produced a series of significant research papers in the areas of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics, quantum field theory in curved spacetime and early cosmology. Their recent work in stochastic field theory has developed further these lines of investigation which now enables them to tackle basic problems of theoretical physics such as noise and fluctuation in inflationary cosmology, decoherence in quantum cosmology, and gravitational entropy of the universe. The work in the next two years will be a continuation in the development of the statistical and stochastic quantum field theories and their application to basic problems in quantum mechanics, gravitation and relativistic cosmology. Dr. Calzetta and Dr. Paz are capable young researchers from IAFE, the center of gravity research in Argentina. Their training and background make it possible to benefit directly from, and contribute effectively to this research. The University of Maryland has been an important international research center in relativity and gravitation physics.
