Research on Gravitation, Relativity and Cosmology (Physics)

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The outstanding Princeton research group will carry out a broad program of theoretical and experimental work on extragalactic astronomy, cosmology and the physics of the early universe. Among the topics to be studied are: 1. Sky maps of the 2.8 K cosmic background radiation. This can better test theories but requires new techniques, considerably larger experimental efforts, and better observing sites. 2. The long wavelength part of the 2.8 K CBR. Measurements at 10 to 50 cm wave lengths require detailed treatment of radiation from the galaxy, but the results would be invaluable for tests of theories of the origin of perturbations to the spectrum. 3. Observational studies of galaxy formation. An experiment designed to measure fluctuations in the sub-mm background may detect young galaxies with high star formation. Proposed X-ray observations of rich clusters at redshifts z ~ 1 are a critical test of the biased cold dark matter theory. 4. Theoretical studies of the evolution of the large-scale structure of the universe. A new numerical technique should be well suited to the study of the primeval mass fluctuations needed to produce observed structures by gravity. The numerical renormalization group method will be used to study evolution from fractal primeval density fluctuations. Semi- phenomenological theories of the origin of the large-scale structure of the universe will also be explored.