Advancing the Science from The Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment

我们的宇宙正在经历一次加速膨胀，这一点现在已经得到了很好的证实。20世纪90年代末对这种膨胀的最初观测来自对遥远的超新星的观测，并在今天得到了最新的分析。目前尚不清楚是什么原因导致了这种名为“暗能量”的加速。它被认为是宇宙中约70%的物质能量密度的来源。关于“暗能量”的成因有许多理论：可能是新粒子、真空能量推动宇宙向外移动、修正了关于万有引力定律的相对论，或者其他一些未知的过程，这些过程将导致对宇宙从大爆炸起源到今天的演化有更详细的理解。Hobby-Eberly望远镜暗能量实验(Hetdex)将收集至少70万个星系的数据，这些星系距离地球90到110亿光年，天文学家可以测量宇宙在其历史上不同时期的膨胀速度。膨胀率的变化将揭示“暗能量”在不同时期的作用，这将被用来验证或否定各种理论的预测，或者给出最终解决方案的新线索。Hetdex的观测计划资金充足，目前已完成约25%。这笔赠款将支持编制一份详细的目录，其中载有校准后的数据产品，供科学界和公众进行更多的天体物理科学研究。将使用这些数据产品为公民科学项目开发一款手机应用程序。这笔赠款将通过将经过审查的目录与公共数据库相结合，扩大Hetdex的科学成果，该数据库将被科学界和公民科学应用程序用于辅助科学。用于光谱提取的神经网络需要优化，以便对星表中的星系进行分类，以满足Hetdex规范。将为德克萨斯高级计算中心(TACC)的一名专家提供部分支持，以设计公众对数据库的访问，包括网络开发和数据库维护，并将与博士后研究员对接，审查目录，以便将视觉分类优化为机器学习。来自分类活动的信息将被折叠回还原软件，以继续进行还原优化。随着对该系统有了更多的了解，这将使数据库得以维护和更新，以供以后发布数据之用。这项支持将为Hetdex计划的内部使用建立一个真正有用的数据库，为科学界提供更多科学的公共访问，以及使用将为该计划开发的手机应用程序的公民科学项目。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

It is now well established that our universe is undergoing an accelerated expansion. The initial observations in the late 1990s for this expansion come from observations of distant Supernova and have held up to latest analysis today. It is not known what causes this acceleration, named “dark energy”. It is believed to be responsible for about 70% of the matter energy density of the universe. There are many theories for the cause of “dark energy”: perhaps new particles, vacuum energy pushing the universe outward, modifying the theory of relativity concerning the laws of gravity, or some other unknown process which will lead to a more detailed understanding of the evolution of the universe from its origin in a “Big Bang” to the present day. The Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX) will collect data on at least 700,000 galaxies that are 9 to 11 billion light years away allowing astronomers to measure how fast the universe was expanding at different times in its history. Changes in the expansion rate will reveal the role of “dark energy” at different epochs which will be used to validate/negate the predictions of various theories or give new clues that will lead to a final solution. The observational program for HETDEX is fully funded, and currently about 25% complete. This grant will support the compilation of a detailed catalog containing the calibrated data products that will be available to the scientific community and the public for additional astrophysical science studies. A cell phone app will be developed for a Citizen science program using the data products.This grant will amplify the science from HETDEX by combining a vetted catalog with a public database that will be employed for ancillary science by the scientific community and citizen science applications. The neural networks used for the spectral extractions for classifying the galaxies in the catalog to meet the HETDEX specifications need to be optimized. Partial support will be for an expert at the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) to design the public access to the data base including web development, and data base maintenance and will interface with the postdoctoral fellow for vetting the catalog for the optimization of the visual classification into machine learning. The information from the classification campaign will be folded back into the reduction software for continued reduction optimization. This will allow the data base to be maintained and updated for subsequent data releases as more about the system is learned. This support will build a truly useful data base for the internal use of the HETDEX program, public access for additional science the scientific community as well as Citizen science projects using the cell phone application that will be developed for this program.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.