The CODEX of the Milky Way

银河系法典

• 批准号: 2206584
• 负责人: Peter Barnes
• 金额: $ 30.5万
• 依托单位: SPACE SCIENCE INSTITUTE
• 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: 2022-08-15 至 2025-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2206584&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CODEX; Milky; Way

Stars are the basic building blocks of galaxies like our own Milky Way. Understanding galaxy evolution, and indeed the history of the universe, requires a thorough understanding of how different types of stars change with time. Stars have their own life cycle, from stellar birth in cold clouds, through their maturity as the stars we see at night, to their ends as red giants or sometimes spectacular supernovae. The process of forming stars, however, is still poorly understood, mainly due to the difficulty in observing the processes that take place inside cold, dark molecular clouds which visible light cannot penetrate. Instead, astronomers use longer-wavelength radiation, like infrared light or radio waves, to discover important details of star formation, including the temperature, density and abundances of elements that are needed to form molecules. The investigator will share their research with the public in a striking way, by launching a “science+art” outreach effort to schoolchildren, emphasizing the important connections between science and art for the general public's appreciation, and increasing the impact of this research.A primary goal of the investigator’s research is testing models for molecular emission in the galaxy, based on maps of mm-wave emission from carbon monoxide (CO) molecules in clouds. Astronomers make CO observations of the Milky Way because the molecule is widespread and relatively easy to observe. The investigator has recently published research suggesting simple interpretations of CO mapping may be subtly misleading our understanding of the physical conditions in clouds, which are mostly made up of molecular hydrogen (H2) that is very difficult to detect directly. In short, the CO maps can be biased in tracing H2. The investigator will complete and release to the community their molecular line survey of the Milky Way as the Combined Dense Gas and Excitation Atlas of the Milky Way (the CODEX). In addition, they will provide a more sophisticated calculation of the physical conditions in molecular clouds, something which has not been attempted before excepting on much smaller scales. This will allow astronomers to better understand how the H2 molecules assemble under the influence of gravity to make stars throughout the Milky Way, and by extension, in other spiral galaxies.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.

星星是星系的基本基础，例如我们自己的银河系。了解星系进化，甚至是宇宙的历史，就需要对不同类型的恒星如何随时间变化有深入的了解。星星拥有自己的生命周期，从冷云中的恒星出生到我们在夜晚看到的星星，到他们的末日，以红色巨人或有时壮观的超新星的末端。然而，形成恒星的过程仍然很鲜为人知，这主要是由于难以观察在寒冷的，深色的分子云中发生的过程，可见光无法穿透。取而代之的是，天文学家使用更长的波长辐射，例如感染的光或无线电波，以发现恒星形成的重要细节，包括形成分子所需的元素的温度，密度和抽象。调查人员将通过罢工方式与公众分享他们的研究，通过向学童发起“科学+艺术”宣传工作，强调科学与艺术之间的重要联系，以增强公众的赞赏，并增加了这项研究的影响。研究者研究的主要目标是基于MM-Wave Monoxs的Galaxy的分子发射模型测试分子发射模型，该模型是MM-Wave Moroxs（Carbons Moroxs in Colloxs co）的。天文学家对银河系进行了观察，因为该分子广泛并且相对容易观察。研究者最近发表了研究表明，对CO映射的简单解释可能会微妙地误导了我们对云中物理条件的理解，而云中的理解主要是由分子氢（H2）组成的，很难直接检测到。简而言之，在追踪H2时，CO地图可能会偏差。调查人员将完成并释放社区的分子线调查，作为银河系的密集气体和激发地图集（法典）。此外，它们将对分子云中的物理条件进行更复杂的计算，除了在较小的尺度上，这尚未尝试过。这将使天文学家能够更好地理解H2分子如何在重力的影响下组装在整个银河系中制造恒星，并在其他螺旋星系中扩展。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响审查标准来通过评估来获得的支持。