Super Star Clusters and Galaxy Evolution

AST-0502649 McCrady，Nathan Dr.McCrady被授予NSF天文学和天体物理学博士后奖学金，在加州大学洛杉矶分校开展一项研究和教育计划。大质量星团被认为是星系的基石，与银河系恒星群的形成密切相关，并为中等质量黑洞(IMBH)提供了潜在的场所，这些黑洞可能是在银河系中心形成超大质量黑洞的种子。麦克拉迪博士将进行一个研究项目，试图回答两个问题：(1)在大质量星团的解体过程中，子结构在形成银河系恒星群的过程中扮演了什么角色？(2)中等质量的黑洞是在致密星团中形成的吗？拟议的工作包括在8和10米级地面望远镜上使用自适应光学(AO)系统进行衍射受限观测，以及从天基光学、红外和X射线望远镜进行观测，以表征附近星系中年轻的、大质量的超级星团的亚结构和质量分离。更多的观测将被用来识别与超轻X射线源有关的星团，这些星团被认为是IMBH。麦克拉迪博士还将设计并教授一门名为《宇宙中的能量》的综合性本科课程，该课程将以天文学为背景，以能量为主题，研究对人类在宇宙中所处位置的科学理解。此外，麦克拉迪博士还将利用天文学，通过ASTRO项目培养中学生对科学的兴趣。

AST-0502649McCrady, NathanDr. McCrady is awarded an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship to carry out a program of research and education at the University of California, Los Angeles. Thought to be the building blocks of galaxies, massive star clusters are integrally linked to the formation of galactic stellar populations and provide potential sites for intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) that may represent the seeds for formation of super-massive black holes in galactic centers. Dr. McCrady will conduct a research program that seeks to answer two questions: (1) what role does substructure play in the dissolution of massive star clusters in the formation of galactic stellar populations? and (2) do intermediate-mass black holes form in dense star clusters? The proposed work involves diffraction-limited observations using adaptive optics (AO) systems on 8- and 10-m class ground-based telescopes and observations from space-based optical, infrared and X-ray telescopes to characterize the substructure and mass segregation of young, massive super star clusters in nearby galaxies. Additional observations will be used to identify star clusters associated with ultraluminous X-ray sources, which are thought to be IMBHs. Dr. McCrady will also design and teach an integrative undergraduate course entitled "Energy in the Universe" that will use astronomy as the context and energy as a theme for investigating the scientific understanding of humans' place in the Universe. In addition, Dr. McCrady will use astronomy to foster interest in science among secondary school students through the Project ASTRO program.