Simulations of Early Galaxy Formation

该奖项是根据2009年《美国复苏与再投资法案》(Public Law 111-5)资助的。戴夫博士和他的团队将使用计算机模拟，在大爆炸后的10-20亿年间跟踪星系的形成，当时宇宙气体被来自新形成的恒星和星系活动核的紫外线重新电离。他和他的团队将把计算暗物质和气体运动的现有程序与他们最近开发的辐射转移程序结合起来。它们将包括10000K以下的冷却处理，并为辐射传递计算实施自适应网格加密。恒星形成对周围气体的影响是通过动量驱动的风模型计算出来的，该模型经过调整，以匹配星系及其周围气体在最近时间的演化。该团队将制作新形成的星系和星际气体的模拟观测目录。这些将提供给社区，用于规划下一代地面和空间望远镜的观测。一名研究生将通过参与研究来接受培训。戴夫博士将为非天文学专业的学生开发一门关于天文数据档案使用的课程。这将首先作为美国亚利桑那州大学加纳开普敦海岸大学留学项目的一部分提交，他正在帮助组织该项目。该预算包括为美国学生提供的旅行津贴，这些津贴是根据少数族裔身份和学业记录选择的。来自开普敦海岸大学的学生也将参加。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).Dr Dave and his team will use computer simulations to follow the formation of galaxies through the period 1-2 billion years after the Big Bang, when the cosmic gas was reionized by ultraviolet light from newly-formed stars and the active nuclei of galaxies. He and his team will combine an existing code that computes the motion of dark matter and gas with their recently-developed radiative transfer code. They will include a treatment of cooling below 10,000K, and implement adaptive mesh refinement for the radiative transfer calculation. The effect of star formation on the surrounding gas is calculated with a momentum-driven wind model that is tuned to match the evolution of galaxies and the gas around them at more recent times. The team will produce catalogs of simulated observations of newly-forming galaxies and the intergalactic gas. These will be made available to the community for planning observations with the next generation of ground- and space-based telescopes.A graduate student will be trained by participating in the research. Dr Dave will develop a course for non-astronomy majors on the use of astronomical data archives. This will be presented first as part of a U. Arizona Study Abroad program based at the University of Cape Coast in Ghana, which he is helping to organize. The budget includes travel grants for US students, selected on the basis of minority status and academic record. Students from the University of Cape Coast will also attend.