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Warwick Astronomy and Astrophysics Rolling Grant 2011-2016

华威天文学和天体物理学滚动资助 2011-2016

基本信息

批准号：
ST/I001719/1
负责人：
Thomas Marsh
金额：
$ 157.3万
依托单位：
University of Warwick
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Research Grant
财政年份：
2011
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2011 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ST%2FI001719%2F1
关键词：
Warwick Astronomy Astrophysics Rolling Grant

项目摘要

The Universe is constantly changing. On timescales of millions of years, stars are born, live and die, and in hundreds of millions of years, entire galaxies come into being. At some stages, the lives of stars can be dramatically sped up and we can see changes happening in days, hours or even seconds. The incredible advances in computer technology of the last decades is now allowing astronomers to track such events in large numbers. At one extreme are the distant 'Type Ia' supernovae used to probe perhaps the deepest mystery of modern physics, the dark energy now thought to be driving an increasing rate of Universal expansion, while at the other are surveys that have found hundreds of other worlds around stars a few light-years from Earth. Some of the most rapidly variable objects of all are the dense remnants left at the end of stars' lives (white dwarfs, neutron stars and black-holes). Pairs of such stars orbiting at up to 1000 orbits per second radiate perturbations of the geometry of space called gravitational waves. Experiments are well underway to detect such ripples and provide the first direct tests of Einstein's great tour-de-force, the theory of General Relativity. Type Ia supernovae are bright but rare so although we can see them in the distant Universe, they only very rarely occur near enough to study in detail; we have not seen one in our own Galaxy for over 400 years. Thus, although we know that they are caused by exploding white dwarfs, we don't know precisely what sort of systems produce them. Yet, there must be many potential supernovae in the nearby Universe. We will pursue a program to understand such potential progenitors with the aim of understanding their numbers and evolution. We will employ a combination of discovery from surveys covering large areas of sky followed by detailed study of individual objects in order to understand both their past and future evolution. These are the data needed to test and develop the models of binary star evolution from which we can predict the extent of the evolution of Type Ia supernovae during the history of the Universe, crucial for their use as probes of dark energy. The same models are required to predict the number and properties of gravitational wave sources, essential for the development of the gravitational wave detectors themselves. The most extreme variable sources of all are gamma-ray bursts, staggeringly bright explosions which take us back to the young Universe. Gamma-ray bursts are stellar explosions which allow us to pinpoint galaxies early in their lives. Recent work on gamma-ray bursts by the group has been led to the discovery of the most distant objects ever seen. We will pursue these with an array of observations from large ground- and space-based telescopes such as the Hubble Space Telescope and the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope to probe the conditions that lead to the formation of the first stars in the young Universe. Our work in following up gamma-ray bursts may help the search for gravitational waves by narrowing the range of models needed to perform such searches. We now know many more planets (over 400) around other stars than exist within our own solar system. These other worlds have revealed an unexpectedly dynamic past involving planet-planet interactions flinging some planets towards their stars and others out of their reach altogether. All surveys for such systems tend to favour large, massive planets. We will develop a new camera sensitive to smaller planets, comparable to Neptune in the solar system. We will use the same techniques needed to understand binary systems to probe extra-solar planets by looking through their atmospheres to their host stars. We will use the Hubble Space Telescope to measure element abundances of extrasolar planetary material around white dwarfs and use the clock-like precision of white dwarfs in binary systems to detect planetary companions.

宇宙是在不断变化的。在数百万年的时间尺度上，恒星诞生、生存和死亡，而在数亿年的时间里，整个星系就会形成。在某些阶段，恒星的寿命可以大大加快，我们可以看到在几天、几小时甚至几秒钟内发生的变化。在过去的几十年里，计算机技术取得了令人难以置信的进步，现在使天文学家能够大量追踪这类事件。一个极端是遥远的Ia型超新星，它被用来探索也许是现代物理学中最深的谜团，暗能量现在被认为正在推动宇宙膨胀的速度不断增加，而另一个极端是调查发现，距离地球几光年的恒星周围还有数百个其他星球。其中一些变化最快的天体是恒星寿命结束时留下的致密残留物(白矮星、中子星和黑洞)。成对的这类恒星以每秒1000圈的轨道运行，辐射出被称为引力波的空间几何扰动。探测这种涟漪的实验正在顺利进行，并为爱因斯坦伟大的巡回力--广义相对论提供了第一次直接测试。Ia型超新星很明亮，但很罕见，所以尽管我们可以在遥远的宇宙中看到它们，但它们很少出现，足以详细研究；我们已经有400多年没有在我们的银河系看到过一颗超新星了。因此，尽管我们知道它们是由白矮星爆炸造成的，但我们并不确切地知道是哪种系统产生了它们。然而，在附近的宇宙中肯定有许多潜在的超新星。我们将继续进行一个项目，以了解这些潜在的祖先，目的是了解他们的数量和进化。我们将采用从覆盖大片天空的调查中发现的组合，然后对单个物体进行详细研究，以了解它们的过去和未来的演变。这些是测试和开发双星演化模型所需的数据，根据这些模型，我们可以预测Ia型超新星在宇宙历史上的演化程度，这对它们用作暗能量探测器至关重要。需要同样的模型来预测引力波源的数量和性质，这对引力波探测器本身的发展至关重要。最极端的可变来源是伽马射线爆发，这是一种令人震惊的明亮爆炸，将我们带回年轻的宇宙。伽马射线暴是一种恒星爆炸，它使我们能够在星系生命早期精确定位它们。该小组最近在伽马射线暴方面的工作导致了迄今所见的最远天体的发现。我们将通过大型地面和太空望远镜(如哈勃太空望远镜和欧洲南方天文台的甚大望远镜)进行一系列观测，以探索导致年轻宇宙中第一批恒星形成的条件。我们在跟踪伽马射线暴方面的工作可能会通过缩小进行引力波搜索所需的模型范围来帮助搜索引力波。我们现在知道的围绕其他恒星的行星比我们太阳系中存在的行星多得多(超过400颗)。这些其他星球揭示了一段出人意料的动态过去，涉及行星与行星的相互作用，将一些行星抛向它们的恒星，另一些则完全超出了它们的触角。所有对这类星系的调查都倾向于支持大型、巨型行星。我们将开发一种对较小行星敏感的新相机，可与太阳系中的海王星相媲美。我们将使用了解双星系统所需的相同技术来探测太阳系外的行星，方法是通过观察它们的大气层来寻找它们的宿主恒星。我们将使用哈勃太空望远镜测量白矮星周围太阳系外行星物质的元素丰度，并利用双星系统中白矮星的时钟般的精度来探测行星伴侣。

项目成果

期刊论文数量（10）

专著数量（0）

科研奖励数量（0）

会议论文数量（0）

专利数量（0）

WASP-31b: A low-density planet transiting a metal-poor, late-F-type dwarf star

DOI：
10.1051/0004-6361/201016208
发表时间：
2010-11
期刊：
Scopus
影响因子：
0
作者：
D. Anderson;A. Cameron;C. Hellier;M. Lendl;T. Lister;P. Maxted;D. Queloz;B. Smalley;Alexis M. S. Smith;A. Triaud;R. West;David J. A. Brown;M. Gillon;F. Pepe;D. Pollacco;D. Ségransan;R. Street;S. Udry
通讯作者：
D. Anderson;A. Cameron;C. Hellier;M. Lendl;T. Lister;P. Maxted;D. Queloz;B. Smalley;Alexis M. S. Smith;A. Triaud;R. West;David J. A. Brown;M. Gillon;F. Pepe;D. Pollacco;D. Ségransan;R. Street;S. Udry

WASP-44b, WASP-45b and WASP-46b: three short-period, transiting extrasolar planets WASP-44b, WASP-45b and WASP-46b

WASP-44b、WASP-45b 和 WASP-46b：三颗短周期凌日系外行星 WASP-44b、WASP-45b 和 WASP-46b