CAREER: Compact Objects in the Era of Celestial Cinematography

作为一个整体，致密天体包括白矮星、中子星和黑洞。作为正常恒星演化的终点状态，它们代表了物理宇宙的基本组成部分。对致密天体最有说服力的观测来自于密集的恒星系统，在那里，恒星彼此挤得足够近，可以频繁地相互作用。紧凑物体和其他恒星之间的相互作用产生了观测结果，与模拟相比，这些观测结果提供了关于这些极端形式物质特性的确凿结论。根据该奖项，恩里科·拉米雷斯-鲁伊斯博士（加州大学圣克鲁兹分校）将为各种各样的恒星相遇建立完整的模型。只有通过全面的模拟，才能通过与观测结果的直接比较，批判性地测试我们对恒星遭遇及其后果的物理理解。将开发一个全面的瞬变事件模型数据库，并向天文学界传播。随着天文学走向天体摄影的时代，这方面的工作尤为重要，在这个时代，整个可到达的天空被成像到前所未有的深度，近乎实时的检测和分类可变源。预测并因此理解恒星相遇的可观测特征是这个建模项目的主要目标之一。作为该项目的一部分，拉米雷斯-鲁伊斯博士将与哈特内尔社区学院的教职员工合作，有效地识别潜在的转学生，这些学生在职业生涯的初期是有前途的研究人员，同时也是加州大学传统上代表性不足的群体的成员。该计划的主要组成部分包括通过暑期实习进行密集的研究指导，学术咨询和指导，以及家庭成员的研讨会。入选的暑期实习生将与Ramirez-Ruiz博士在一个研究项目上密切合作，并将被纳入加州大学圣迭戈分校现有的众多学生支持项目之一，如加州少数民族参与联盟项目。这将为实习生提供一个学生社区，并有机会发展额外的技能，以促进他们的教育和职业发展。家庭参与该计划被认为是必不可少的。出于这个原因，作为公众宣传工作的一部分，拉米雷斯-鲁伊斯博士将开发一个家庭天文学之夜系列讲座。这个系列讲座的价值将是双重的。首先，它将向不同群体的社区大学学生和他们的父母传达拟议研究的各个方面和发现的兴奋。其次，它将有助于确保家长获得支持孩子学业成功所需的信息。

As a class, compact objects consist of white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes. As the endpoint states of normal stellar evolution, they represent fundamental constituents of the physical Universe. The most telling observations of compact objects come from dense stellar systems, where stars are crowded close enough to each other to undergo frequent interactions. This interplay between compact objects and other stars yields observations which when compared to simulations provides firm conclusions about the properties of these extreme forms of matter. Under this award, Dr. Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz (University of California - Santa Cruz, UCSC) will build complete models for a wide variety of stellar encounters. Only through full-scale simulations will come the ability to critically test our understanding of the physics of stellar encounters and their aftermath, with a direct comparison with observations. A comprehensive model database of transient events will be developed and disseminated to the astronomical community. This aspect of the work is particularly important as astronomy moves toward an era of celestial cinematography where the entire accessible sky is imaged to unprecedented depth, with near-real-time detection and classification of variable sources. The prediction and, hence, understanding of the observable characteristics of stellar encounters is one of the main goals of this modeling program.As a part of this project, Dr. Ramirez-Ruiz will join forces with the faculty, and staff at Hartnell Community College to effectively identify potential transfer students who are promising researchers at the beginning of their careers and also members of groups who are traditionally underrepresented in the University of California. Key components of the program include intensive research instruction through summer internships, academic counseling and mentoring, and workshops that integrate family members. The selected summer interns will work closely with Dr. Ramirez-Ruiz on a research project and also be integrated into one of the many existing student support programs at UCSC, such as the California Alliance for Minority Participation program. This will provide the interns with a student community as well as the opportunity to develop additional skills to advance their education and career. Family involvement in the program is considered essential. For this reason, as part of the public outreach effort, Dr. Ramirez-Ruiz will develop a Family Astronomy Night lecture series. The value of the lecture series will be twofold. First, it will communicate aspects of the proposed research and the thrill of discovery to a diverse group of community college students and their parents. Second, it will help ensure that parents have the information needed to support their child's academic success.