The overarching goal of the research funded by this grant was to gain a more profound understanding of “holographic duality” and its implications for the physics of composite particles like the protons and neutrons inside the atomic nucleus. Holographic duality is an idea from string theory that provides new tools to investigate the fundamental physics of objects like the proton and neutron, which are made up of elementary particles interacting so strongly and so often that the usual tools of particle physics simply don’t work. PI Domokos’s research under this grant shed light on two key research directions in this area. In work with A. Royston of Penn State – Fayette, she constructed a model equipped with a powerful feature called “supersymmetry” that makes it easier to identify different types of composite states in a given system, and performed a preliminary investigation of these composites. In work with N. Mann of Union College, she studied the implications of holographic duality for the mixing of different types of composite objects called mesons and glueballs. The work resulted in several peer-reviewed publications, and was disseminated to other scientists through a number of conference and seminar talks by the PI and her collaborators.

This grant also had significant broader impacts. Eleven undergraduate students from the PI’s home institution – the majority from groups historically underrepresented in physics – were involved directly in the research work. In addition to exposure to cutting-edge ideas of theoretical physics rarely accessible to undergraduates, the students received key training in physics, mathematics, programming, and presentation skills that will help prepare them for scientific and technical careers. Of these eleven students, the four that have already graduated have gone on to prestigious master’s programs in the sciences, or to sought-after jobs in the tech sector. 

This grant also created several avenues to make the research accessible to non-experts. In collaboration with K. Park and several students from the sciences and the arts, the PI and the undergraduate researchers created a series of YouTube and TikTok videos explaining concepts from theoretical physics in layperson’s terms. In addition, one of the grant’s publications was a tutorial about holographic duality accessible to advanced undergraduates and physicists from other fields, which the PI used as a basis for several seminars and colloquia at other primarily undergraduate institutions. The research has will also be incorporated into coursework at the PI’s home institution in the form of a undergraduate course, where holographic duality is used as an avenue to expose students to fundamental ideas from general relativity and quantum field theory.

Last Modified: 12/15/2023
Modified by: Sophia K Domokos