UCL Astrophysics Consolidated Grant 2012-2015

在过去的25年里，天文学界发生了天翻地覆的变化。我们现在知道，我们的宇宙不仅在膨胀，而且还在以不断增长的速度膨胀。在一种叫做暗能量的神秘驱动力的推动下，像我们的银河系这样的星系正以如此巨大的加速度远离彼此，即使是强大的引力也无法将宇宙聚集在一起。伦敦大学学院天体物理小组的研究人员正在用他们未来几年雄心勃勃的研究计划来检验这些发现。未来十年，天文学家将利用“暗能量调查”（Dark Energy Survey），将3亿个星系的地图与普朗克卫星（Planck satellite）的宇宙微波背景（Cosmic Microwave Background）新图表结合起来，以了解早期宇宙的状况，探测中微子粒子的微小质量，并在最大尺度上检验爱因斯坦的广义相对论。在天文尺度的另一端，25年前，我们只知道太阳系中的行星——按照今天的统计，只有8颗，包括冥王星、卡戎和谷神星等小行星，以及小行星和彗星。今天，由于发现了太阳系外行星，即围绕太阳以外的恒星运行的行星，这个数字已经超过了2000个，而且还在增加。那么，这些“系外行星”和我们已知的行星一样吗？这些系外行星系统和我们的行星系统一样吗？到目前为止，答案是否定的。伦敦大学学院的项目还包括寻找系外行星是什么样子的，它们的大气层是由什么组成的，以及它们在与影响地球及其近邻的环境截然不同的条件下的行为。在这两个极端之间，我们的项目将探测木星和土星等行星周围的巨大磁场，以及这些磁场如何与行星大气层相互作用。系外行星可能也有这样的磁场；了解它们在太阳系中的工作原理将有助于我们理解甚至探测到系外行星系统。我们将探索恒星及其周围的行星是如何从巨大的气体和尘埃云中形成的，以及恒星之间发生的化学反应是如何影响和控制这些关键过程的。伦敦大学学院的天体物理学团队还将研究恒星在被称为超新星的巨大爆炸中死亡的过程，以及在死亡过程中，巨大的恒星如何将它们的心脏倒回星系，用气体、尘埃和化学物质丰富它们，这些物质是形成新恒星、新行星甚至新生命所必需的。这一切都不可能实现，除非天文学家不断改进他们用来研究天空的设备——望远镜和探测器。因此，伦敦大学学院的仪器制造商将制造更灵敏的探测器和光谱仪，光学表面越来越好，用于装备下一代望远镜和太空任务。天文学家需要用更复杂的数学技术来模拟他们所研究的宇宙。因此，伦敦大学学院的计算机专家将生成复杂的模型，在大学的超级计算机上运行，生成所需的基本分子数据，并模拟早期宇宙的条件，演化中的星系以及栖息在其中的恒星和行星系统。但是，如果我们的同胞们不能分享我们小组工作的奇迹和兴奋，所有这一切都将被浪费。因此，Astrophysics@UCL将确保其成员继续通过讲座和讲座，通过公共活动和媒体来解释他们的工作，激励下一代科学家，帮助和挑战行业开发新技术，并确保我们对宇宙的理解变得更加深入和广泛。

In the last twenty-five years, the world of astronomy has been turned upside down. We now know that not only is our universe expanding, but that it is expanding at an ever-increasing rate. Fuelled by a mysterious driver called Dark Energy - galaxies, such as our Milky Way, are rushing away from each other at such enormous acceleration that not even the powerful force of gravity can hold the universe together. The researchers of UCL's Astrophysics Group are putting to the test these discoveries with their ambitious programme of research for the coming years. A map of 300 million galaxies that astronomers will put together using the Dark Energy Survey over the next decade will be combined with a new chart of the Cosmic Microwave Background from the Planck satellite to understand the conditions in the early universe, to detect the tiny mass of the Neutrino particle and to test Einstein's theory of general Relativity on the largest scales. At the other end of the astronomical scale, 25 years ago we knew only of the planets in our own Solar System - eight by today's count, with minor planets like Pluto, Charon and Ceres, along with asteroids and comets. Today the score is over 2000 and counting, thanks to the discovery of extra-solar planets, i.e. planets orbiting stars other than our own Sun. So are these "exo-planets" like the ones we already know? Are these exoplanet systems like our planetary system? So far, the answer is "no", and UCL's programme also contains projects to find out just what exo-planets are like, what their atmospheres are made of, and how they behave in conditions very different from those affecting our Earth and its nearest neighbours.And in between these two extremes, our projects will probe the giant magnetic fields that surround planets like Jupiter and Saturn, and how these interact with the planet's atmosphere. Exo-planets may also have such magnetic fields; knowing how they work in our Solar System will help us understand and even detect exo-planetary systems. We will probe just how stars and the planets around them form from vast gas and dust clouds, and how the chemistry that goes on between the stars affects and controls those crucial processes. UCL's astrophysics team will also look at the death of stars in giant explosions called supernovas and how, in dying, huge stars pour their hearts back out into the galaxy, enriching them with the gas, dust and chemical soups required to make new stars, new planets and even new life.None of this can be done unless astronomers continually improve the equipment - the telescopes and their detectors - with which they carry out their studies of the heavens. So UCL's instrument makers will create ever-more sensitive detectors and spectrometers, with better and better optical surfaces, with which to equip the next generation of telescopes and space missions. And astronomers need to model the universe they study with ever more complex mathematical techniques. So UCL's computer experts will generate the sophisticated models, running on the university's supercomputers, to generate the basic molecular data needed, and simulate the conditions in the early universe, the evolving galaxies and the stars and planetary systems that inhabit them. But all of this will be wasted unless our fellow citizens get to share in the wonder and excitement of our group's work. So Astrophysics@UCL will ensure that its members continue to explain their work through talks and lectures, through public events, and through the media, inspiring the next generation of scientists, helping and challenging industry to develop new technologies, and ensuring that our understanding of the universe becomes ever deeper and wider.