Physical Implications of Modified Spacetime

The structure of spacetime at small distances or high energies and the behavior of quantum fields, including gravity, in this domain is a long-standing problem of theoretical physics. Recent astrophysical measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation spectrum and the data from experiments at Large Hadron Collider, expected in the nearest future, will allow us to approach these problems also experimentally. The subject of the present project is to investigate whether and how the modification of the spacetime structure can contribute to finding a solution of the above-mentioned open problems. We will work on Poincare and affine gauge theories of gravity, brane-worlds models, noncommutativity in string theory, noncommutative field theories including gravity and supersymmetric theories, and on generalizations of the Standard Model. We will examine mathematical and physical consistency of these models, search for classical solutions, analyze their properties under quantization and calculate phenomenological/experimental predictions. In this way, we will learn about the relevant properties of spacetime in these theories and increase our understanding of their ability to successfully describe physics at ultra-high energies.