Summary
"A critical challenge of the current era in theoretical and mathematical physics is to understand and solve strongly coupled quantum field theories. Meeting this challenge will necessitate a significant reformulation of the edifice of quantum field theory and will surely require dramatic mathematical breakthroughs.
To this end, a productive and promising strategy is to focus on the intricate algebraic structure of observables in quantum field theories, and in particular in those theories that are fixed points of the renormalization group, namely conformal field theories. From this point of view, supersymmetric quantum field theories are ideal theoretical laboratories; they enjoy special structure properties that not only improve their tractability but position them centrally in several areas of contemporary mathematics. Additionally, the landscape of known superconformal field theories is much richer than its non-supersymmetric counterpart and includes many models of interest due to their connections with string theory, holography, and particle physics.
In recent years it has been recognized that the combination of (extended) supersymmetry and conformal symmetry guarantees the existence of several remarkable cohomological reductions of the full operator algebras of these theories. This is a proposal to establish a world-leading research team to develop these ""superconformal operator algebras"" into a coherent framework that can be used as a non-perturbative backbone for the analysis of such models. The team will include a diverse array of researchers with expertise in conformal field theory, supersymmetric localization, topological field theory, geometric representation theory, and vertex algebras. Our framework will be used to constrain, organize, and classify the landscape of SCFTs, as well as to solve for supersymmetric observables in theories of interest. It will also serve as a rigorous mathematical entry point for the study of these theories more generally."
To this end, a productive and promising strategy is to focus on the intricate algebraic structure of observables in quantum field theories, and in particular in those theories that are fixed points of the renormalization group, namely conformal field theories. From this point of view, supersymmetric quantum field theories are ideal theoretical laboratories; they enjoy special structure properties that not only improve their tractability but position them centrally in several areas of contemporary mathematics. Additionally, the landscape of known superconformal field theories is much richer than its non-supersymmetric counterpart and includes many models of interest due to their connections with string theory, holography, and particle physics.
In recent years it has been recognized that the combination of (extended) supersymmetry and conformal symmetry guarantees the existence of several remarkable cohomological reductions of the full operator algebras of these theories. This is a proposal to establish a world-leading research team to develop these ""superconformal operator algebras"" into a coherent framework that can be used as a non-perturbative backbone for the analysis of such models. The team will include a diverse array of researchers with expertise in conformal field theory, supersymmetric localization, topological field theory, geometric representation theory, and vertex algebras. Our framework will be used to constrain, organize, and classify the landscape of SCFTs, as well as to solve for supersymmetric observables in theories of interest. It will also serve as a rigorous mathematical entry point for the study of these theories more generally."
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More information & hyperlinks
| Web resources: | https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/864828 |
| Start date: | 01-09-2020 |
| End date: | 31-08-2026 |
| Total budget - Public funding: | 1 963 921,00 Euro - 1 963 921,00 Euro |
Cordis data
Original description
"A critical challenge of the current era in theoretical and mathematical physics is to understand and solve strongly coupled quantum field theories. Meeting this challenge will necessitate a significant reformulation of the edifice of quantum field theory and will surely require dramatic mathematical breakthroughs.To this end, a productive and promising strategy is to focus on the intricate algebraic structure of observables in quantum field theories, and in particular in those theories that are fixed points of the renormalization group, namely conformal field theories. From this point of view, supersymmetric quantum field theories are ideal theoretical laboratories; they enjoy special structure properties that not only improve their tractability but position them centrally in several areas of contemporary mathematics. Additionally, the landscape of known superconformal field theories is much richer than its non-supersymmetric counterpart and includes many models of interest due to their connections with string theory, holography, and particle physics.
In recent years it has been recognized that the combination of (extended) supersymmetry and conformal symmetry guarantees the existence of several remarkable cohomological reductions of the full operator algebras of these theories. This is a proposal to establish a world-leading research team to develop these ""superconformal operator algebras"" into a coherent framework that can be used as a non-perturbative backbone for the analysis of such models. The team will include a diverse array of researchers with expertise in conformal field theory, supersymmetric localization, topological field theory, geometric representation theory, and vertex algebras. Our framework will be used to constrain, organize, and classify the landscape of SCFTs, as well as to solve for supersymmetric observables in theories of interest. It will also serve as a rigorous mathematical entry point for the study of these theories more generally."
Status
SIGNEDCall topic
ERC-2019-COGUpdate Date
27-04-2024
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