Research in theoretical elementary particle physics will include studies of three-dimensional and high-temperature quantum chromodynamics (QCD) which will lead to an understanding of the low-momentum or infrared behavior of such theories; of high-energy and high-temperature electroweak processes, which will quantify the extent to which nucleon- number violation and other non-perturbative phenomena can be seen both at the Superconducting Supercollider (SSC) and as dynamical effects in the early universe; of string theories and two-dimensional quantum gravity, which will provide new and better mathematical formulation of current string-theory problems; and of four-dimensional quantum gravity and black holes, which will clarify the underlying physics of black holes with mass near the Planck mass (at which gravity is as important as the other forces). QCD processes are known otherwise as strong nuclear ones, and electroweak processes drive atomic physics and some nuclear radioactive decays. Together, these processes, including those involving nucleon-number violation, are the central focus of the experimental program at SSC and of processes in the early universe. String theory is the underlying framework for all elementary particle interactions, including gravity, and the intersection of quantum mechanics and gravity takes place in the physics of black holes of mass near the Planck mass. The programs to be worked on are central to the most important problems of elementary particle theory today.
