Collaborative Research: Using Observations and Models to Study How Dust Grains Between the Stars Align

这个天文学项目旨在提高我们对星际空间，即银河系恒星之间空间中存在的气体和尘埃的理解。该团队已经发展了他们自己的理论，关于这种“星际介质”中细长的尘埃颗粒是如何排列的。这个相当复杂的过程涉及磁力或“场”——已知存在于太空中——和星光。该理论将通过一系列望远镜的观测结果进行检验，包括赫歇尔和普朗克太空望远镜、机载平流层红外天文观测台（SOFIA）、地面斯隆数字巡天（SDSS）、詹姆斯·克拉克·麦克斯韦望远镜（JCMT）和多镜望远镜（MMT）等。磁场会影响气体在太空中的运动方式，尤其是云在自身重量的作用下坍缩形成恒星的方式。因此，在试图理解恒星和像地球这样的行星是如何形成的时候，了解磁场是非常重要的。来自圣克拉拉大学和威斯康辛大学的研究生和本科生将大量参与这个项目。一位年轻的博士后研究员也将在这项工作中发挥主导作用。这个三研究所合作项目将开发一个分析版本的辐射对准扭矩（RAT）理论，用于星际介质（ISM）中不规则的顺磁尘埃颗粒的对准。该理论在解释过去的观察结果方面已经取得了一些定性的成功。获奖者现在的目标是利用该理论的分析版本，结合实际的源结构，对一系列观察结果进行定量测试。当与光学和红外偏振测量相结合时，RAT理论可能成为研究各种环境（巨分子云、吸积盘等）下星际磁场的强大诊断工具。如果对颗粒排列有可靠的了解，尘埃引起的极化提供了一个相对直接的磁场探测。了解前景尘埃的极化对宇宙微波背景的研究也至关重要。该奖项的获得者将为圣克拉拉大学（Santa Clara University）和威斯康星大学（University of Wisconsin）的学生提供课堂和实践培训，开发“极化课程（学校）”，非附属大学的本科生也可以使用这些课程。该奖项还支持面向公众的推广活动，包括利克天文台的项目和拉森黑暗天空节的一部分。通俗的科学内容将通过起草杂志文章，以及学生参与西华大学西班牙语通俗天文学广播来追求。

This astronomy project aims at improving our understanding of the gas and dust that exists in interstellar space, i.e., in the space between the stars in our Galaxy. The team has developed their own theory about how elongated grains of dust in this "interstellar medium" are lined up. This rather complex process involves magnetic forces or "fields"---which are known to exist in space---and starlight. The theory will be tested using observations from a range of telescopes, including the Herschel and Planck space telescopes, the airborne Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), and the ground-based Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT), and Multi-Mirror Telescope (MMT), among others. Magnetic fields affect the way gas moves through space, and particularly the way clouds collapse under their own weight to form stars. Understanding magnetic fields is therefore hugely important when trying to understand how stars and planets like Earth are formed. Graduate and undergraduate students from Santa Clara University and the University of Wisconsin will be heavily involved in this project. A young post-doctoral researcher will also take a leading role in this effort.This tri-institute collaborative project will develop an analytical version of the Radiative Alignment Torque (RAT) theory for the alignment of irregular, paramagnetic dust grains in the Interstellar Medium (ISM). The theory has already had some qualitative successes in interpreting past observations. The awardees now aim to quantitatively test the theory against a range of observations using an analytical version of the theory that incorporates realistic source structures. When combined with optical and infrared polarization measurements, the RAT theory may be a powerful diagnostic tool for studying interstellar magnetic fields in a variety of environments (Giant Molecular Clouds, Accretion Disks, etc.). Dust-induced polarization provides a relatively straightforward probe of the magnetic field if a reliable understanding of grain alignment is available. Understanding foreground dust polarization is also crucial to studies of the cosmic microwave background. The recipients of this award will provide classroom and hands-on training to students at Santa Clara University and the University of Wisconsin (UW), developing "polarization classes (schools)" that may also be used by non-affiliated undergraduate students. The award also supports outreach aimed at the general public, including programs at the Lick Observatory and as part of the Lassen Dark Sky Festival. Popular science content will be pursued through drafted magazine articles, as well as student involvement in popular astronomy broadcasting in Spanish at UW.