An important question facing fundamental physics is how the well-tested laws of Einstein's theory of gravity and quantum mechanics become consistent at the Planck scale -- the question of quantum gravity. This question is of central importance in understanding the origin of our universe, the big bang. Most of the remarkable progress on understanding the big bang has occurred in the context of quantum cosmology: quantum models of highly symmetric, and therefore highly simplified, universes. While these models have a structure guided by the full theory of quantum gravity, they are not directly derived from it as a quantum theory. The present award seeks to close this gap. This will solidify confidence in the predictions of quantum cosmology and also permit its insights to be used to guide future developments of quantum gravity itself. A second part of this research aims to further understand the relation between the relatively well-understood canonical formulation of quantum gravity and the Feynman sum-over-histories formulation, in which space and time are treated in a more unified way.
By allowing graduate students to participate in frontier physics, and to interact with other research groups, this award will have a broad and long-term impact on the development of future scientists. The results of the research will be disseminated to the scientific community through peer reviewed publication and scientific lectures, as well as to the general public through public lectures and other means.
