Collaborative Research: Through the Gas Darkly: Birth and Death in the Milky Way

合作研究：穿越黑暗气体：银河系的诞生与死亡

• 批准号: 0206309
• 负责人: Robert Becker
• 金额: $ 28.31万
• 依托单位: University of California-Davis
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2002
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2002-07-01 至 2006-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0206309&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Through; Gas; Darkly

AST 0206309BeckerThe majority of stellar births and stellar deaths in the Milky Way take place shrouded fromthe view of optical telescopes. Centimeter radio waves and hard X-rays can penetrate the gas anddust which obscure our vision, but the limited angular resolution and sensitivity of all previoussearches has left us peering through the gas darkly in an attempt to construct a census of starformation and demise in the Galaxy. Drs. David Helfand, at Columbia University, and Robert Becker, at the University of California at Davis, will carry out a new survey of the Galactic Plane with the Very Large Array (VLA), as well as extensive optical and near-infrared follow up observations, to complement a new hard X-ray Galactic plane survey now underway using the XMM-Newton satellite. All of this group's observations (approved and proposed, at X-ray and radio wavelengths) are nonproprietary, and they intend to follow the FIRST survey model in creating a public website which will make available all reduced images as soon as they are constructed and verified. Thus, thesurvey will provide databases of use to any astronomer working in Galactic astronomy. However,these researchers have identified a number of specific problems on which they intend to focus: a complete census of Galactic supernova remnants, a census of massive star formation, and the definition of complete samples of accretion-powered binary systems. The surveys will open a new window on massive star formation in the Milky Way. All HII regions powered by stars more massive than B0 will be clearly visible to the solar circle on the opposite side of the Galaxy as radio sources coincident with infrared emission detected in the MSX satellite mid-infrared maps of the plane; in addition, many of these star formation complexes will be detectable in the XMM-Newton maps, providing a distance estimate from the X-ray absorption column density. This group will follow up all HII region candidates with a new infrared camera on the MDM 2.4m telescope. Theresult will be the most complete census yet of massive star formation in the Galaxy. Luminosity functions for several classes of X-ray transients and steady binaries, derived from extensive optical and near-infrared follow up of selected samples of X-ray point sources from the XMM Newtonimages, will extend 2-3 orders of magnitude fainter than existing data allow, providing important new constraints on close-binary evolution and models for accretion. With both X-ray and radio observing time already allocated, with a new 8K optical camera and a near-infrared imager/spectrometer on the MDM 2.4m telescope and access to the Lick and Keck Observatories, these researchers have the resources in place to provide a striking new view of the Milky Way. ***

AST 0206309Becker 银河系中大多数恒星的诞生和恒星死亡都是在光学望远镜的视野之外发生的。厘米级无线电波和硬X射线可以穿透遮蔽我们视线的气体和尘埃，但之前所有搜索的有限角分辨率和灵敏度使我们只能透过黑暗的气体进行观察，试图对银河系中的恒星形成和消亡进行普查。 博士。哥伦比亚大学的大卫·赫尔芬德（David Helfand）和加州大学戴维斯分校的罗伯特·贝克尔（Robert Becker）将利用甚大阵列（VLA）对银河平面进行新的勘测，以及广泛的光学和近红外后续观测，以补充目前正在使用 XMM-Newton 卫星进行的新的硬 X 射线银河平面勘测。该小组的所有观察结果（在 X 射线和无线电波长上已批准和提议）都是非专有的，他们打算遵循 FIRST 调查模型创建一个公共网站，该网站将在构建和验证后立即提供所有缩小的图像。因此，该调查将为任何从事银河天文学工作的天文学家提供可用的数据库。然而，这些研究人员已经确定了他们打算关注的一些具体问题：银河超新星遗迹的完整普查、大质量恒星形成的普查以及吸积动力双星系统完整样本的定义。这些调查将打开一扇了解银河系大质量恒星形成的新窗口。所有由比 B0 质量更大的恒星提供动力的 HII 区域都将在银河系另一侧的太阳圈中清晰可见，因为无线电源与 MSX 卫星中红外平面图中检测到的红外发射一致；此外，许多这样的恒星形成复合体将可以在 XMM-牛顿图中检测到，从而根据 X 射线吸收柱密度提供距离估计。 该小组将使用 MDM 2.4m 望远镜上的新型红外摄像机跟踪所有 HII 区域候选者。结果将是迄今为止对银河系大规模恒星形成最完整的普查。 几类 X 射线瞬变和稳定双星的光度函数，源自对 XMM 牛顿图像中选定的 X 射线点源样本的广泛光学和近红外跟踪，将比现有数据允许的亮度范围扩大 2-3 个数量级，从而为近双星演化和吸积模型提供重要的新约束。由于已经分配了 X 射线和射电观测时间，加上 MDM 2.4m 望远镜上的新型 8K 光学相机和近红外成像仪/光谱仪，以及利克和凯克天文台的访问权限，这些研究人员拥有适当的资源来提供令人惊叹的银河系新视图。 ***