Grant: Subatomic Physics Envelope - Individual

Some of the grandest open questions in theoretical physics lie directly at the interface of quantum mechanics and gravity. How did our universe begin? How will it end? What is dark energy? What is inside a black hole? Each of these questions is fundamental to our understanding of the universe, but none of them can be answered in a framework that does not include both gravity and quantum physics. String theory is one such framework, and recent developments in this field have brought us closer than ever before to answering some of the fundamental questions above. Fifteen years ago, researchers in string theory discovered a stunning connection between the physics of quantum gravity and the physics of quantum field theories, the well-understood mathematical models that physicists use to describe elementary particles and their interactions. Through this connection, known as the AdS/CFT correspondence, quantum gravity questions that were previously impossible to answer can be translated into much simpler questions that can be answered by quantum field theory. Even though there is a lot of evidence that the connection between quantum gravity and quantum field theory is true, we have very little understanding of why it is true. This lack of understanding prevents us from answering some of the very important questions above. For this reason, a large part of my proposed research is dedicated to investigating why the AdS/CFT correspondence works. My recent work suggests that the answer to this question may require studying quantum field theory using methods from the emerging field of quantum information theory (the theory behind quantum computers). By thinking about field theories in this new way, I believe that we'll get a much better understanding why quantum gravitational physics can sometimes emerge from quantum field theories. With this deeper understanding, I hope to be able to generalize the AdS/CFT correspondence to obtain consistent mathematical models that can help us learn about our universe's beginning, its accelerating expansion through dark energy, and its end.