This award funds the research efforts of Professor Vincent Rodgers at the University of Iowa.
For nearly fifty years, Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) has been a competing mathematical theory for the underlying physics of nuclear matter. The theory has shown itself to be successful in environments where matter is highly energetic such as accelerators but due to the nature of the theory, predictions in lower energy environments are intractable. String theory provides a clever mechanism for solving some aspects of QCD in low energy environments by mapping the theory into a gravitational theory (or geometries) that can be "easily" solved. One problem with this mapping is that these geometries are highly restrictive and one needs new families of geometries in order to find those that correspond to QCD. In this work, we are using as many of the salient properties of QCD to extend the family of suitable geometries related to QCD and try to determine new features of QCD in its low-energy state. Understanding QCD in such a state will improve our understanding of nuclear physics.
This project has several broader impacts. Professor Rodgers has several graduate students, including international students, women from the U.S., and underrepresented minority students. Professor Rodgers, an African American, is also quite active in science outreach for rural and urban communities in and around Iowa, and strongly encourages his students to participate in outreach as well. Prof. Rodgers also teaches courses in string theory and quantum field theory where this research will benefit the curriculum of those courses.
Mathematical physics is designed to allow physicists to explore the underpinnings of what makes up the physical world in terms of symmetries and principles and consistency. Mathematical consistency of physical theories have lead to innovations that trial and error from experimentation alone cannot begin to resolve. Electrodynamics as a mathematical theory is an example of how the electric and magnetic forces were brought together in a single mathematical framework. That framework quickly transformed electrodynamics into a working tool that lead to lasers, electronics, radio transmission and an essential tool that aids us in understanding the other forces of nature. It also lead to the new principle of relativity due to its deep mathematical symmetry. Today string theory is in this class of mathematically complete theories and is able to bring gravitation into the larger framework which includes other forces. In this work, the researchers are investigating aspects of string theory that can point to realistic models of nuclear physics. Also string theory is used to explore gravitation, a relatively weak force, in ways which Einstein's theory of General Relativity alone is insufficient. The work on supergravity and superstrings as well as Yang-Mills theories are so mathematically rich that many years of research will be required to tease out all of the underlying consequences of these theories. Some of these consequences will directly affect our understanding of nuclear physics, particle physics and much of the physics that we presently do not understand.
