Diffuse Matter in the Galaxy - An International Conference; Conference, August 30- September 2,2004 Arreibo Puerto Rico

该奖项将为参加在波多黎各阿雷西博天文台举行的“星系中的弥散物质：观测与理论对抗”会议的美国机构的学生和早期职业科学家提供部分会议旅费支持；二四年八月三十日至九月二日。会议的一个重要目标是促进从事星际介质（ISM）研究的知名研究人员与其较年轻的同事之间的密切互动。这些年轻的研究者将确保这一基础研究领域的未来发展。对早期职业研究人员旅费的财政援助将确保实现这一目标。对于数量非常有限的资深与会者，还将提供部分旅费支持。银河系中的ISM作为一个多组分环境的理论概念是有用的，因为它允许计算电离结构、温度结构和能量平衡，这些都是这种物质的特征。反过来，这些物理量可以与输入ISM的假定能量来源有关——发光的恒星、恒星风和超新星。最后，人们可以检查与观测的一致性，并评估理论模型是否需要越来越复杂。最近对ISM的观察，使用了各种各样的新技术，强调了这种介质的极端多样性。ISM中有相当大的质量部分以温度低于100k的冷气体形式存在，有相当大的质量部分（但体积要大得多）以热气体形式存在，还有很大的体积充满了温度为数十万甚至数百万K的非常稀的气体。这些区域的性质正在由专门设计的望远镜和探测器进行探测。此外，每一个都在理论上使用与观测到的气体密度和温度相关的物理学进行研究。但是，在理解ISM这些阶段之间存在的联系以及将一个阶段转化为另一个阶段的过程方面，进展较少。理解这些联系是“星系中的弥散物质：观测与理论对抗”会议的主要目标。如上所述，会议的一个重要目标是汇集已建立的ISM研究人员和他们的初级同事。这两个小组之间的互动将刺激未来正式或非正式的研究合作。如果ISM研究领域要在未来保持活跃和重要，像这样的互动是必不可少的。显然，除非有相当数量的年轻研究人员参加会议，否则这个目标是不可能实现的。本次会议的第二个目标是创建具有持久价值的会议出版物。预期的出版物将包括对本提案中概述的会议主题的至少七次全面审查。这样的出版物应该适合作为ISM观察和理论入门研究生课程的基础教科书。

AST 0440508TrolandThis award will provide funding for partial conference travel support of students and early career scientists at U.S. institutions to the meeting, Diffuse Matter in the Galaxy: Observations Confront Theory, at Arecibo Observatory, Puerto Rico; August 30 - September 2, 2004. An important objective of the meeting is to facilitate close interactions among established researchers engaged in the study of the interstellar medium (ISM) and their more junior colleagues. These younger investigators will ensure the future development of this fundamental research field. Financial assistance for travel expenses of early career researchers will assure that this objective can be met. There will also be partial travel support for a very limited number of senior participants.The theoretical concept of the ISM in the Milky Way as a multi-component environment is useful because it allows calculations to be made of the ionization structure, the temperature structure and the energy balance that characterizes this material. These physical quantities, in turn, can be related to the presumed sources of energy input to the ISM - luminous stars, stellar winds and supernovae. Finally, one can check for consistency with observation and assess the need for an increasing sophistication of the theoretical models. Recent observations of the ISM, using a wide variety of new techniques, have underscored the extreme diversity of this medium. A significant mass fraction of the ISM exists as cold gas with temperatures less than 100 K, a comparable mass fraction (but much larger volume fraction) exists as warm gas, and a large volume is filled with very dilute gas having temperatures of hundreds of thousands or evenmillions of K. The nature of each of these regions is being probed by specially-designed telescopes and detectors. Moreover, each is being studied theoretically using the physicsrelevant to the gas densities and temperatures observed. But less progress has been made inunderstanding the connections that exist among these phases of the ISM and the processes thattransform one phase into another. Understanding these connections is a primary goal of themeeting Diffuse Matter in the Galaxy: Observations Confront Theory.As mentioned above, an important objective of the meeting is to bring together established ISM researchers and their junior colleagues. Interactions between these two groups will stimulate future research collaborations, formal or informal. And interactions like these are essential if the field of ISM research is to remain active and vital in the future. Obviously, this goal cannot be met unless a substantial number of younger researchers attend the meeting. A second objective of this meeting is to create a conference publication of lasting value. The expected publication will consist of at least seven comprehensive reviews of the conference session topics outlined in this proposal. Such a publication should be suitable as a basic textbook for introductory graduate courses in observations and theory of the ISM.