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

AST-0349213卡尔德威尔博士。达特茅斯学院的罗伯特·考德威尔将开展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，它对宇宙加速负有责任，并改变了我们对宇宙的图景。暗能量的物理本质的发现将对物理学的许多分支产生基本的影响。结合宇宙学、场和引力，PI将进行解析计算和数值计算，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。这些调查的时机恰到好处，与许多当前和计划中的实验和观测计划相协调，这些计划将揭示暗能量的本质。PI将通过达特茅斯的学生指导和课程开发计划，建立他对教育的承诺。为了在更广泛的社区中提高科学素养，将通过与当地一家科学博物馆的伙伴关系，与当地学校开展公开讲座和外联活动。这些努力的核心将是一个教师提升研讨会，帮助教师将宇宙学的兴奋带回课堂。

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.