SIGNALS: Unveiling Star-Forming Regions in Nearby Galaxies

信号：揭示附近星系中的恒星形成区域

• 批准号: 2109124
• 负责人: Laurie Rousseau-Nepton
• 金额: $ 28.49万
• 依托单位: Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Corporation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-01-15 至 2024-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2109124&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SIGNALS; Unveiling; Star; Forming; Regions

The investigators seek to understand how stars form in galaxies, how their birthplace affects their properties, and how multiple generations of stars transform galaxies. Stars affect their environment by returning new elements to the interstellar gas. These new elements are then recycled to form new stars. Stars form in a wide variety of environments. These can be different galaxy to galaxy, location to location. The result is that each star has its own story. By studying 50,000 regions where stars actively form, scientists will understand what triggers their formation, how efficiently stars form, and how each generation transforms the gas around them. This will also help researchers to understand the star-formation history of the whole Universe since the Big-Bang. This project is led by a woman from the First Nations of Canada based in Hawaii and is composed of a group of 70 researchers including more than 40% of woman. Positive impacts are expected on the local community in Hawaii. The team will collaborate with a statewide STEM program, Mauna Kea Scholars, to develop a workshop for their students. Mauna Kea Scholars provides telescope time on the Mauna Kea Observatories for Hawaii public high schools students. Most of the students are underrepresented minorities, including girls, Native Hawaiians, and traditionally underserved students. The workshop will teach the students new skills applicable within their research, encouraging confidence in their abilities. Using data from the SIGNALS survey conducted at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope with a Fourier Transform Spectrograph, the investigators will study the spectra of 50,000 spatially resolved star-forming regions, and the stars within, at a mean spatial resolution of 20 pc. Secondary data from UV, IR, HI and CO will allow the team to properly measure the local environmental properties such as the density of stars and gas around each region. The team will analyze the data using a custom-tailored modeling technique and a global study stellar populations in different environments. Their goals are to first measure the impact of the environment on the star formation process. Second, link the stellar recycling processes to the local chemical enrichment and dynamics within the surrounding star-forming regions. Their third goal is measuring the star formation rate as a function of the measured indicators, so these indicators can be accurately applied to studies of more distant galaxies.This project is jointly funded by Astronomy Division and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).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.

研究人员试图了解恒星是如何在星系中形成的，它们的诞生地如何影响它们的性质，以及多代恒星是如何改变星系的。恒星通过将新元素返回星际气体来影响它们的环境。然后，这些新元素被循环利用，形成新的恒星。恒星形成于各种各样的环境中。它们可以是不同的星系，不同的位置。结果是，每一颗恒星都有自己的故事。通过研究5万个恒星活跃形成的区域，科学家们将了解是什么触发了它们的形成，恒星形成的效率有多高，以及每一代恒星是如何转换它们周围的气体的。这也将有助于研究人员了解大爆炸以来整个宇宙的恒星形成历史。该项目由来自夏威夷的加拿大第一民族的一名妇女领导，由70名研究人员组成，其中40%以上是妇女。预计将对夏威夷的当地社区产生积极影响。该团队将与全州范围的STEM项目毛纳基阿学者项目合作，为他们的学生开发一个研讨会。莫纳克亚学者为夏威夷公立高中的学生提供莫纳克亚天文台的望远镜时间。大多数学生是代表不足的少数民族，包括女孩、夏威夷原住民和传统上服务不足的学生。工作坊将教授学生在他们的研究中适用的新技能，鼓励他们对自己能力的信心。利用加拿大-法国-夏威夷望远镜使用傅里叶变换光谱仪进行的信号测量数据，研究人员将研究5万个空间分辨率为20pC的恒星形成区域及其内部恒星的光谱。来自UV、IR、HI和CO的二次数据将使该团队能够适当地测量当地的环境属性，如每个区域周围的恒星和气体的密度。该团队将使用定制的建模技术和全球研究不同环境中的恒星种群来分析数据。他们的目标是首先测量环境对恒星形成过程的影响。第二，将恒星的循环过程与周围恒星形成区域内的当地化学物质富集度和动力学联系起来。他们的第三个目标是测量恒星形成率作为测量指标的函数，因此这些指标可以准确地应用于更遥远的星系的研究。该项目由天文学部门和既定的刺激竞争研究计划(EPSCoR)共同资助。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。