This proposal requests support for research in string theory, both of a formal nature and with applications to particle physics. The main thrusts of the work are: the AdS/CFT correspondence between string theory and strongly-coupled gauge theories in curved spacetimes; and the development and use of twistor theory to calculate multi-gluon amplitudes relevant to collider physics experiments.
The PI has made important and influential contributions to both of these areas. He and his colleagues have checked various aspects of the BMN limit of the AdS/CFT correspondence and evaluated the exact one-loop partition function for certain super-Yang-Mills theories. They also used twistor string theory to evaluate n-gluon tree-level amplitudes and develop recursion formulae for them.
The broader impacts of the proposal concentrate on training students, in particular undergraduate students, in the elements of string theory. The PI will be the Undergaduate Research Coordinator at the Michigan Center for Theoretical Physics. He will also give public lectures at museums and other venues in the State.
