Testing the Cold Dark Matter Model by Constraining Dark Matter Substructure in Gravitational Lens Galaxies

通过约束引力透镜星系中的暗物质子结构来测试冷暗物质模型

• 批准号: 1615306
• 负责人: Quinn Minor
• 金额: $ 23.54万
• 依托单位: CUNY Borough of Manhattan Community College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-09-01 至 2020-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1615306&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Testing; Cold; Dark; Matter; Model

Most of the matter in the Universe is in the form of dark matter, whose presence we only observe through its gravity. All galaxies appear to be surrounded by large halos of dark matter. And dark matter dominates the gravitational field of galaxies and clusters of galaxies. Dark matter is dark because it does not emit or absorb light making it hard to study. In fact, astronomers do not yet know the true nature of dark matter. But understanding this will advance our understanding of the fundamental laws of physics.By studying the dark matter halos of galaxies, and how their gravity bends light from more distant sources (gravity lenses), astronomers can learn about the structure of the dark matter in the halos how they were formed. Various models to explain these things have been developed, and they can all be tested based on what actually happens in dark matter halos. This proposed study will use high-resolution images of gravity lenses to learn more about the structure of the dark-matter halos. The results will also help determine the type of particle dark matter is.The PI's institution serves students from underrepresented and/or underprivileged backgrounds. The Broader Impact part of this project will be to award promising undergraduate science and engineering majors (a minimum of six students over three years) a stipend to do research (allowing them to focus on studies and research rather than work part time jobs outside of school). The undergraduates will learn skills, and gain experiences, that are vital to STEM fields, while also producing valuable results for this project. Each year, students accepted to the program will work at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) during the summer. They will participate in a three-day workshop to acquire scientific computing skills, attend weekly meetings to discuss recent papers in astrophysics, and at the end of the summer will give a talk on their research at the AMNH "Physical Sciences REU Symposium". Finally, after the following fall semester the students will have the opportunity to attend and give a poster presentation of their research at the winter American Astronomical Society (AAS) meeting.This project clearly relates to NSF's mission to promote the progress of science. In addition, the "Broader Impact" portion of the project does this, and advances the national health, prosperity and welfare by helping to develop interest in, and educating, STEM activities among the next generation of diverse individuals.The existence of small dark matter substructure in galaxies is a key prediction of dark matter theories that remains largely untested. The project's goals are to test the Cold Dark Matter (CDM) paradigm by analyzing a sample of gravitational lenses observed at high resolution. The proposed project will evaluate methods to detect and characterize substructure in gravitational lens galaxies. In particular it will consist of observing lenses in the submillimeter electromagnetic spectral range. Galaxies with gravitational lenses are being discovered rapidly in this area. Using high-resolution observations (e.g. by the ALMA telescope array) of these galaxies, the PI and team will obtain unprecedented information on the dark matter distribution in galaxies. And because gravitational lensing directly exhibits the warping of space time by dark matter, a study of gravitational lens systems is a promising method to constrain generic particle properties of dark matter (independent of specific particle models). The team's primary goal is to show how this information can be used to constrain the detailed properties of dark matter substructure as a way of identifying the nature of dark matter itself.

宇宙中的大部分物质都是暗物质，我们只能通过它的引力来观察它的存在。 所有的星系似乎都被巨大的暗物质晕所包围。 暗物质主导着星系和星系团的引力场。暗物质是暗的，因为它不发射或吸收光，使其难以研究。 事实上，天文学家还不知道暗物质的真正性质。 但理解这一点将有助于我们进一步理解物理学的基本定律。通过研究星系的暗物质晕，以及它们的引力如何使来自更远光源（引力透镜）的光弯曲，天文学家可以了解晕中暗物质的结构，以及它们是如何形成的。 人们已经开发了各种模型来解释这些事情，并且可以根据暗物质晕中实际发生的情况来测试它们。 这项拟议中的研究将使用重力透镜的高分辨率图像来了解更多关于暗物质晕的结构。 研究结果也将有助于确定暗物质的粒子类型。PI的机构为来自代表性不足和/或贫困背景的学生提供服务。 该项目的更广泛影响部分将授予有前途的本科科学和工程专业（三年内至少有六名学生）进行研究的津贴（允许他们专注于学习和研究，而不是在校外兼职工作）。本科生将学习技能，并获得经验，这是至关重要的STEM领域，同时也为这个项目产生有价值的结果。 每年，接受该计划的学生将在美国自然历史博物馆（AMNH）工作。 他们将参加为期三天的研讨会，以获得科学计算技能，参加每周会议，讨论天体物理学的最新论文，并在夏季结束时将在AMNH“物理科学REU研讨会”上就他们的研究发表演讲。最后，在下一个秋季学期之后，学生们将有机会参加冬季美国天文学会（AAS）会议，并在会议上展示他们的研究成果。这个项目显然与NSF促进科学进步的使命有关。 此外，该项目的“更广泛的影响”部分就是这样做的，通过帮助培养下一代不同个体对STEM活动的兴趣和教育，促进国民健康、繁荣和福利。星系中存在小暗物质亚结构是暗物质理论的一个关键预测，在很大程度上尚未得到验证。 该项目的目标是通过分析以高分辨率观察到的引力透镜样本来测试冷暗物质（CDM）范式。拟议的项目将评价探测和描述引力透镜星系内部结构的方法。 特别是，它将包括亚毫米电磁光谱范围内的观测透镜。 在这个地区，带有引力透镜的星系正在迅速被发现。 利用这些星系的高分辨率观测（例如通过阿尔马望远镜阵列），PI和团队将获得有关星系中暗物质分布的前所未有的信息。由于引力透镜直接表现了暗物质对时空的扭曲，因此对引力透镜系统的研究是一种很有前途的方法来限制暗物质的一般粒子性质（独立于特定的粒子模型）。该团队的主要目标是展示如何使用这些信息来约束暗物质子结构的详细属性，作为识别暗物质本身性质的一种方式。