Resolving the Milky Way's Global Star Formation History

解决银河系的全球恒星形成历史

• 批准号: 2009993
• 负责人: Gail Zasowski
• 金额: $ 20.55万
• 依托单位: University of Utah
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-09-01 至 2024-02-29
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2009993&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Resolving; Milky; Way; Global; Star

The investigators seek to better understand where and when our Milky Way (MW) Galaxy formed its hundred billion stars. As stars form and burn their nuclear fuel, this history is recorded in the chemical makeup of the gas and stars near them. Scientists can use those chemical changes to trace how different types of stars formed at different times. Reading this stellar life history requires sensitive observations and detailed models. The researchers will fit models to age and chemical information for hundreds of thousands of stars in our galaxy. They will also look for the effects of gas flowing into the Galaxy, and of stars moving around inside the MW since they formed. These measurements will help us understand how the infant MW grew into the massive spiral galaxy we see today. In addition, the project will address scientific literacy among members of Utah’s refugee communities. The researchers will work with high-school students from these communities to design experiments for high-altitude balloons. These activities will teach computing skills and problem solving, and students will design kits for future groups to build and launch their own balloons.Until recently, our measurements of the MW’s enrichment history were largely limited to the solar neighborhood; but now, massive stellar surveys are enabling unprecedented chemical — and even age — measurements for enormous numbers of stars at a wide range of Galactic radius. These measurements reveal complex, position-dependent patterns of age and abundance that require new modeling to reproduce and interpret. The distributions of age, stellar metallicity, and alpha-element enhancement comprise the most stringent observational constraints ever confronted by chemical evolution models. The investigators will use chemical measurements from the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE). The survey data are ideal for this work because the data are homogeneous, and the dataset spans the full range of Galactic radius. However, many of APOGEE’s stars, especially in the inner Galaxy, do not yet have reliable age measurements. The investigators will compute the first ages for these luminous giant stars in order to complete the set of high-quality observations required for large-scale modeling of the disk’s stellar history.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.

研究人员试图更好地了解我们的银河系何时何地形成了千亿颗恒星。 当恒星形成并燃烧其核燃料时，这段历史被记录在它们附近的气体和恒星的化学组成中。科学家可以利用这些化学变化来追踪不同类型的恒星在不同时间是如何形成的。阅读这段恒星的生命史需要敏锐的观察和详细的模型。 研究人员将根据银河系数十万颗恒星的年龄和化学信息建立模型。他们还将寻找气体流入银河系的影响，以及恒星自形成以来在银河系内移动的影响。这些测量将帮助我们了解新生的MW如何成长为我们今天看到的巨大螺旋星系。此外，该项目还将提高犹他州难民社区成员的科学素养。研究人员将与这些社区的高中生合作设计高空气球实验。这些活动将教授计算技能和解决问题的能力，学生们将为未来的小组设计套件来建造和发射自己的气球。直到最近，我们对兆瓦富集历史的测量主要局限于太阳附近；但现在，大规模的恒星巡天能够对银河系半径范围内的大量恒星进行前所未有的化学甚至年龄测量。这些测量揭示了复杂的、与位置相关的年龄和丰度模式，需要新的模型来重现和解释。年龄、恒星金属丰度和α元素增强的分布构成了化学演化模型所面临的最严格的观测约束。研究人员将使用阿帕奇角天文台银河演化实验（APOGEE）的化学测量数据。 勘测数据非常适合这项工作，因为数据是同质的，并且数据集跨越了银河半径的整个范围。然而，APOGEE 的许多恒星，尤其是银河系内部的恒星，还没有可靠的年龄测量。研究人员将计算这些发光巨星的最初年龄，以完成对圆盘恒星历史进行大规模建模所需的一系列高质量观测。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

项目成果

Quantifying radial migration in the Milky Way: inefficient over short time-scales but essential to the very outer disc beyond ∼15 kpc

量化银河系中的径向迁移：在短时间内效率较低，但对于超过 15 kpc 的最外层盘至关重要

• DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stac479
• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
• 影响因子: 4.8
• 作者: Lian, Jianhui;Zasowski, Gail;Hasselquist, Sten;Holtzman, Jon A.;Boardman, Nicholas;Cunha, Katia;Fernández-Trincado, José G.;Frinchaboy, Peter M.;Garcia-Hernandez, D. A.;Nitschelm, Christian
• 通讯作者: Nitschelm, Christian

The Milky Way tomography with APOGEE: intrinsic density distribution and structure of mono-abundance populations

APOGEE 的银河系断层扫描：单丰度种群的固有密度分布和结构

• DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stac1151
• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
• 影响因子: 4.8
• 作者: Lian, Jianhui;Zasowski, Gail;Mackereth, Ted;Imig, Julie;Holtzman, Jon A.;Beaton, Rachael L.;Bird, Jonathan C.;Cunha, Katia;Fernández-Trincado, José G.;Horta, Danny
• 通讯作者: Horta, Danny

To boldly know what no one has known before

大胆地去了解以前没有人知道的事情

• DOI: 10.33424/futurum284
• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: Futurum Careers
• 作者: Zasowski, Gail