Star Formation in Galaxies

天文学研究的一个主要课题是恒星是如何从星际气体云的引力坍缩中形成的。首席研究员（PI）希望在美国国家科学基金会支持下对原恒星在重力和自转相互影响下的数值模拟的早期研究进行扩展。PI将使用复杂的新数值技术来计算二维和三维模型。计算出的模型将“跟踪”这一坍缩的时间，特别关注微小密度波动的发展，这些波动最终可能成长为行星或副恒星。NSF的支持将包括购买一台计算机工作站，以便在大范围的测试条件下“实时”跟踪模拟坍塌的电影。这些结果有望增加我们对原恒星在坍缩过程中如何失去角动量的理解，并定义导致两颗独立的“双星”形成的条件。

A major topic of study in astronomy concerns the way in which stars are formed from the gravitational collapse of interstellar gas clouds. The Principal Investigator (PI) wishes to extend earlier studies supported by the NSF of numerical simulations of proto- star under the mutual influence of gravity and rotation. The PI will use sophisticated new numerical techniques to compute models in two and three dimensions. Models will be computed to "follow" this collapse in time, with particular attention to the development of minor density fluctuations which could grow ultimately into planets or a secondary star. NSF support will include the purchase of a computer workstation so that movies of simulated collapses can be followed in "real time" over a wide range of test conditions. These results are expected to increase our understanding of how proto-stars lose angular momentum during their collapse and to define the conditions leading to the formation of two separate "binary" stars.