The Astrophysics of the Obscured Universe Across Cosmic Time

跨宇宙时间的模糊宇宙的天体物理学

• 批准号: 2307006
• 负责人: Caitlin Casey
• 金额: $ 39.6万
• 依托单位: University of Texas at Austin
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-09-01 至 2026-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2307006&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Astrophysics; Obscured; Universe; Across; Cosmic

Dust changes our view of astronomical objects. It interacts with light from distant stars to make them more dim. Dust also radiates heat, which astronomers can see with millimeter and radio telescopes. Early galaxies contained more dust, and that impacts our understanding of how galaxies form and change with time. The investigator will use multiple telescopes to understand how dust in the most distant galaxies affects the cosmos. Undergraduate students from underrepresented backgrounds will be trained in related astronomy research. Dust makes up a negligible fraction of the mass budget of galaxies (1%) and yet has transformative effect on their integrated spectra. Its efficient absorption of starlight in the ultraviolet and optical results in half of all extragalactic light in the Universe being thermally re-radiated in the far-infrared and millimeter (FIR/mm). Yet galaxies' thermal dust emission is poorly understood relative to stellar emission processes. The importance of dust to a wide range of astrophysical processes -- from its role in the condensation of cold molecular clouds to form stars, the coagulation of planetesimals, or the reprocessing of starlight at longer wavelengths -- makes it a crucial ingredient of the Universe requiring detailed observations. This project will use a diverse range of observational FIR/mm datasets to comprehensively characterize the dust emission of galaxies across cosmic time. Core concepts of this research will be used to bolster the retention of under-represented students in astrophysics careers through support of summer research and innovative equity-focused pedagogical activities.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.

灰尘改变了我们对天体的看法。它与来自遥远恒星的光相互作用，使它们变得更加暗淡。尘埃也会辐射热量，天文学家可以用毫米波望远镜和射电望远镜看到这一点。早期的星系含有更多的尘埃，这影响了我们对星系如何形成和随时间变化的理解。研究人员将使用多个望远镜来了解最遥远星系中的尘埃如何影响宇宙。来自代表性不足背景的本科生将接受相关天文学研究的培训。尘埃只占星系质量预算的一小部分（1%），但对其综合光谱具有变革性的影响。它对紫外和光学星光的有效吸收导致宇宙中一半的河外光在远红外和毫米波 (FIR/mm) 中被热再辐射。然而，相对于恒星发射过程，人们对星系的热尘埃发射知之甚少。尘埃对各种天体物理过程的重要性——从它在冷分子云凝结形成恒星、星子凝结或较长波长星光再处理中的作用——使其成为需要详细观测的宇宙的重要组成部分。该项目将使用各种 FIR/mm 观测数据集来全面表征整个宇宙时间内星系的尘埃排放。这项研究的核心概念将用于通过支持暑期研究和以公平为重点的创新教学活动，来提高天体物理学职业中代表性不足的学生的保留率。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。