CAREER: The Physics of the Universe: Cosmology, Fields, Gravitation, and Scientific Literacy

AST-0349213 CaldwellDr.达特茅斯学院的罗伯特考德威尔将承担一个研究宇宙物理的项目。他将专注于暗能量的问题，暗能量是宇宙中能量的主要形式，它是宇宙加速的原因，并改变了我们对宇宙的看法。发现暗能量的物理本质将对物理学的许多分支产生根本性的影响。结合宇宙学，场和引力，PI将进行分析计算和数值计算，以研究：暗能量基本性质的约束和线索;暗能量的基本物理模型，如quintessence;以及quintessence在快速变化的引力场和黑洞附近的行为。 这些调查是很好的时机，以配合许多目前和计划的实验和观测计划，准备揭示暗能量的性质。PI将建立在他的承诺，通过一个项目的学生辅导和课程开发在达特茅斯教育。为了在更广泛的社区提高科学素养，将通过与当地科学博物馆的伙伴关系，与当地学校一起举办公开讲座和外联活动。这些努力的核心将是一个教师增强研讨会，以帮助教师把宇宙学的兴奋回到课堂。

AST-0349213 CaldwellDr. Robert Caldwell, at Dartmouth College, will undertake a program to investigate the physics of the Universe. He will focus on the problem of dark energy, the dominant form of energy in the cosmos, which is responsible for the cosmic acceleration and has transformed our picture of the Universe. Discovery of the physical nature of dark energy would have a basic impact on many branches of physics. Combining cosmology, fields and gravitation, the PI will carry out analytic calculations and numerical computations to investigate: constraints and clues to the basic properties of the dark energy; fundamental physics models of the dark energy, such as quintessence; and the behavior of quintessence in rapidly varying gravitational fields and near black holes. These investigations are well timed to coordinate with the many current and planned experimental and observational programs poised to reveal the nature of the dark energy.The PI will build upon his commitment to education through a program of student mentoring and curriculum development at Dartmouth. To advance scientific literacy in the wider community, public lectures and outreach activities with local schools, through a partnership with a local science museum, will be undertaken. The centerpiece of these efforts will be a teacher enhancement workshop, to help teachers bring the excitement of cosmology back to the classroom.