Black Holes in Globular Clusters

球状星团中的黑洞

• 批准号: 1308124
• 负责人: Jay Strader
• 金额: $ 26.83万
• 依托单位: Michigan State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-09-01 至 2017-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1308124&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Black; Holes; Globular; Clusters

The project follows up on a very exciting recent discovery: the potential detection of stellar mass black holes in an old globular cluster, using the NSF's Karl Jansky Very Large Array (VLA). Hundreds of stellar-mass black holes are expected to form in the early lifetimes of most clusters, and theoretical work suggests that these black holes quickly mass segregate to the cluster center and are nearly all ejected through mutual gravitational interactions. The existence of stellar-mass black holes in globular clusters would have broad implications: (i) globular clusters would become important hunting grounds for stellar-mass black holes, of which few are still known; (ii) globular clusters might offer a less biased view of the black hole mass function than the field; and (iii) the prospects for detecting gravitational wave sources such as black hole?black hole or black hole?pulsar binaries would be improved. Discovery of additional black holes in other globular clusters with VLA would be highly significant, and require substantial re-assessment of our understanding of these clusters. The impact of finding an intermediate mass black hole in the survey of globular clusters would be very significant.The broader impacts of this project focuses on three areas. The first is the inclusion of female undergraduates in research, starting early in their university careers. The second is the construction of new scientific exhibits focused on black holes and globular clusters for installation in a campus observatory. Finally, the broader scientific community and general public will be engaged in the results of ongoing research through social media interactions.

该项目是继最近一项非常令人兴奋的发现之后进行的：利用美国国家科学基金会的卡尔·扬斯基甚大阵列（VLA），在一个古老的球状星团中潜在地探测到恒星质量黑洞。在大多数星团的早期，预计会形成数百个恒星质量的黑洞，理论工作表明，这些黑洞的质量会迅速分离到星团中心，并且几乎都是通过相互引力相互作用而被抛出的。球状星团中恒星质量黑洞的存在将产生广泛的影响：(i)球状星团将成为寻找恒星质量黑洞的重要场所，目前已知的恒星质量黑洞很少；（ii）球状星团可能提供的黑洞质量函数的观点比场的观点偏差更小；（三）探测黑洞等引力波源的前景如何？黑洞还是黑洞？脉冲星双星将得到改进。在其他具有VLA的球状星团中发现额外的黑洞将是非常重要的，并且需要对我们对这些星团的理解进行实质性的重新评估。在对球状星团的调查中发现中等质量黑洞的影响将是非常重大的。本项目的广泛影响主要集中在三个方面。首先是让女本科生参与研究，从她们大学生涯的早期开始。二是建设新的科学展览，重点放在黑洞和球状星团上，安装在校园天文台。最后，更广泛的科学界和普通公众将通过社会媒体互动参与正在进行的研究结果。