Queen's University Belfast Astronomy Observation and Theory Consolidated Grant 2023-2026

昆士兰州立大学提出的这项研究涵盖了广泛的重要天体物理学，从研究恒星和奇异物体的演化以及通常是暴力死亡，到分析新发现的外星世界的大气。我们的团队拥有国际知名的观测和理论专业知识，处于拟议活动的前沿。超新星创造了我们在整个可见宇宙中看到的重元素。虽然恒星经过数百万年或数十亿年的演化，但超新星爆炸只发生在几秒钟内，发光的残余物持续数年。我们的目标是了解这些爆炸是如何发生的，以及它们是如何在银河系中创造中子星、脉冲星和黑洞的。2017年，发现了第一个与引力波源对应的电磁对应物，这是一项突破性的发现。这是一对合并的中子星的结果，光学和红外光来自重元素(我们称之为r过程元素)的放射性衰变。这些元素比铁重，这种中子星合并可能是所有这些重元素的原因。我们的项目将发现更多这样的现象，引力波和电磁信号的结合为我们打开了一扇了解宇宙的新窗口。热核超新星被用作宇宙的衡量标准，并导致了诺贝尔奖获得者暗能量的发现，它们来自白矮星，白矮星是一颗质量大于太阳但大小与地球相当的死亡恒星的密度令人难以置信的残骸。尽管它们有着惊人的多样性，从热木星到超级地球，但由于它们产生的微小信号，我们还没有找到一颗在大小和距离上与地球相似的行星。随着过去几年超高精度仪器的上线，成功的障碍不再局限于技术，而是我们对太阳等恒星表面活动的缺乏了解。我们的项目将致力于了解和缓解这种影响，并仔细测试提取我们预期的微小信号的方法，同时着眼于未来探测地球孪生兄弟的价值。与此同时，我们还希望提高我们探测系外行星大气层的能力。我们团队在开发新的、越来越灵敏的大气表征工具方面有着悠久的历史，我们将应用一种名为多普勒层析成像的技术，这项技术展示了特别的前景。这将通过模型原子的计算机计算和实验室实验来完成。我们的计算机代码计算电子在原子中是如何激发的，并确保天体物理模型识别导致超新星、超大质量黑洞、星系光谱和恒星中谱线的元素。既然我们已经探测到千诺瓦，我们就必须对最重的元素进行同样的计算。与此同时，使用强大激光的新颖实验可以以可控和可重复的方式复制宇宙中一些最极端的条件-这在天文观测中是很少实现的。这类研究是更清晰地了解几种奇异天体物理现象的关键，从活动星系核心发出的喷流到伽马射线暴。

The proposed research at QUB covers a wide range of fundamentally important astrophysics, from studying the evolution and often violent deaths of stars and exotic objects, to analysing the atmospheres of newly discovered alien worlds. Our team has internationally renowned observational and theoretical expertise that lies at the forefront of the proposed activities.Supernovae create the heavy elements we see in the entire visible Universe. While stars evolve over millions or billions of years, a supernova explosion happens in seconds and the glowing remnant lasts for years. We aim to understand how these explosions happen and how they create the neutron stars, pulsars and black holes in our galaxy. In 2017 a breakthrough discovery was made when the first electromagnetic counterpart to a gravitational wave source was found. Termed a 'kilonova', this was the result of a pair of merging neutron stars and the optical and infrared light arose from the radioactive decay of heavy elements (which we call r-process elements). These elements are heavier than iron and such neutron star mergers may be responsible for all these heavy elements. Our projects will find more of these, and the combination of gravitational waves and electromagnetic signals opens up a new window on the Universe. The thermonuclear supernovae that are used as cosmic yardsticks and led to the Nobel Prize winning discovery of dark energy come from white dwarfs, the incredibly dense remnants of a dead star with a mass greater than that of the sun but the size of the earth. To understand how they explode, we will model their spectra with the most sophisticated 3 dimensional computer models that currently exist.The heavy elements that are created in supernovae are essential to form planetary systems, and since the Nobel prize-winning discovery of the first planet orbiting a normal star (an exoplanet) we now know of 1000s of alien worlds. Despite their astounding diversity, from hot-Jupiters to super-Earths, we have yet to find a planet that resembles Earth in terms of its size and distance from its parent star due to the tiny signals they produce. With ultra-high precision instruments coming online in the last few years the barrier to success is no longer limited by technology, but by our lack of understanding of the surface activity of stars like our Sun. Our project will aim to understand and mitigate this effect, and carefully test methods to extract the tiny signals we expect with an eye on the future prize of detecting an earth twin. Running parallel to this, we also wish to improve our ability to probe the atmospheres of exoplanets. Our group has a heritage in developing new and increasingly sensitive atmospheric characterisation tools, and we shall apply a technique called Doppler Tomography that demonstrates particular promise. Honing such techniques will allow us to probe smaller planets and search for more subtle signals from previously unseen chemical species.A critical part of astrophysics is pulling together our detailed knowledge of physics that we can measure on earth to what we can see (through electromagnetic radiation) in the distant Universe. This will be done through computer calculations of model atoms, and laboratory experiments. Our computer codes calculate how electrons are excited in atoms and ensures that astrophysical models identify the elements that cause the spectral lines in supernovae, supermassive black holes, galaxy spectra and stars. Now that we have detected a kilonova we must do the same calculations for the heaviest elements. Meanwhile, novel experiments using powerful lasers can replicate some of the most extreme conditions in the Universe in a controllable and repeatable fashion - something rarely achievable in astronomical observations. Such investigations are key to unlocking a clearer understanding of several exotic astrophysical phenomena, from jets emanating from the cores of active galaxies to Gamma Ray Bursts.