CAREER: Exploring the Warped Spacetimes of Astrophysical Black Holes

职业：探索天体物理黑洞的扭曲时空

• 批准号: 0746549
• 负责人: Dimitrios Psaltis
• 金额: $ 56.32万
• 依托单位: University of Arizona
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2008-02-15 至 2014-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0746549&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Exploring; Warped; Spacetimes; Astrophysical

Current observations of supermassive black holes in the early Universe pose serious questions on our understanding of the formation and growth of these unique astrophysical objects. Dr. Dimitrios Psaltis (University of Arizona) will determine whether supermassive black holes can grow in the early Universe solely by accretion. This will be achieved by simulating accretion flows onto black holes using the spectral, 3D, magnetohydrodynamic algorithm recently developed by Dr. Psaltis and his group, which will be further enhanced by incorporating a detailed treatment of radiative processes. The result of this investigation will be the first ab initio calculation of the limiting rate of mass accretion by a supermassive black hole. This project will also assess the viability of performing tests of gravity using accreting black holes. Moreover, it will establish, using a parametric theoretical framework, whether the astrophysical black holes are described by the Kerr metric of General Relativity.An integral part of this research project will be the development of modules for the visualization of particle and photon orbits in arbitrary curved spacetimes. These modules will become valuable tools in educating students in the various geometric aspects of the theory. Dr. Psaltis, assisted by several undergraduate students, will develop a self contained, web-based, visual tool for the teaching of relativistic concepts. Two graduate students and several undergraduate students will be educated during the research program in various aspects of relativity, computational astrophysics, and transport methods, both of which are important for a number of disciplines of physics research other than astrophysics.

目前对早期宇宙中超大质量黑洞的观测对我们对这些独特天体物理物体的形成和生长的理解提出了严重的问题。 Dimitrios Psaltis 博士（亚利桑那大学）将确定超大质量黑洞是否可以仅通过吸积在早期宇宙中生长。这将通过使用 Psaltis 博士及其团队最近开发的光谱 3D 磁流体动力学算法来模拟黑洞上的吸积流来实现，该算法将通过结合辐射过程的详细处理来进一步增强。这项研究的结果将是对超大质量黑洞质量吸积极限速率的首次从头计算。 该项目还将评估利用吸积黑洞进行重力测试的可行性。此外，它将使用参数理论框架确定天体物理黑洞是否由广义相对论的克尔度量来描述。该研究项目的一个组成部分将是开发用于任意弯曲时空中粒子和光子轨道可视化的模块。这些模块将成为对学生进行几何理论各个方面教育的宝贵工具。 Psaltis 博士在几名本科生的协助下，将开发一种独立的、基于网络的可视化工具，用于相对论概念的教学。 两名研究生和几名本科生将在研究计划期间接受相对论、计算天体物理学和传输方法各个方面的教育，这两者对于天体物理学以外的许多物理研究学科都很重要。