RUI: Relativistic Gravitation, Pulsar Beams and Birth Processes, and the Interstellar Medium

脉冲星是高度压缩的恒星，质量比太阳大，但直径不到几英里。脉冲星的一个显著特征是，由于它们的自旋和强大的磁场，它们会产生规则的无线电波脉冲。研究者和他的本科生计划在三个区域进行脉冲星观测。第一个是脉冲星的相对论引力研究。脉冲星脉冲可以被认为是一个非常精确的时钟的“滴答声”。脉冲星的脉冲是一个非常精确的时钟在伴星弯曲的时空中高速运行的滴答声。因此，双星脉冲星是卓越的相对论引力探测器。第二个领域是脉冲星光束和诞生过程的测量。虽然人们普遍认为脉冲星的射电束发射来自于它们磁极上方相对流动的粒子，但这些过程的许多细节仍有待进一步阐述。他们计划对脉冲星自旋轴和固有运动方向之间的相关性进行调查，这将为脉冲星形成过程提供实验推导的见解。他们的数据是了解高脉冲星速度和旋转速率所必需的。第三个领域是对银河系磁场的研究。无线电脉冲穿过我们的星系，并受到我们星系磁场的影响。他们对脉冲星磁场随距离和位置变化的测量将决定我们银河系的部分磁结构。学生们将获得宝贵的科学培训，这是课堂上根本无法获得的，包括数据收集和分析，假设测试，全球合作，以及口头和书面报告结果。这些活动将帮助学生成为未来的天文学家、物理学家和工程师。其次，PI继续参与这些项目将使他能够把研究的兴奋带到课堂上，这将有助于激励科学家和非科学家学习科学。

Pulsars are highly compressed stars, more massive than the Sun, yet smaller than a few miles in diameter. A remarkable feature of pulsars is, because of their spin and strong magnetic field, they create regular pulses of radio waves. The investigator and his undergraduate students plan three areas of pulsar observations. The first is pulsar studies of relativistic gravitation. Pulsar pulses can be considered to be the "ticks" of a very precise clock. A pulsar's pulses are then the ticks of a very precise clock orbiting at high speed in the curved spacetime of a companion star. As such, binary pulsars are outstanding probes of relativistic gravitationThe second area is measurement of pulsar beaming and birth processes. While it is generally accepted that pulsar's beamed radio emissions originates from particles streaming relativistically above their magnetic poles, many details of these processes remain to be elaborated. They plan an investigation of the correlation between pulsar spin axis and proper motion directions, which will provide experimentally derived insights into the processes leading to pulsars. Their data is needed to understand the high pulsar velocities and spin rates. The third area is the study of our galaxy's magnetic field. The radio pulses travel through our galaxy and are affected by our galaxy's magnetic field. Their measurements of the pulsar magnetic field changes with distance and position in the sky will determine part of the magnetic structure of our galaxy. The students will receive invaluable scientific training that is simply not available in the classroom, including data gathering and analysis, testing of hypotheses, collaboration across the world, and oral and written presentation of results. These activities will help students to be future astronomers, physicists, and engineers. Second, the continuing involvement of the PI in these projects will enable him to bring the excitement of research to the classroom, where it will help to inspire scientists and nonscientists alike to study science.