Probing the Large Scale Structure of the Universe

探索宇宙的大尺度结构

• 批准号: 435920-2013
• 负责人: Vanderlinde, Keith
• 金额: $ 2.7万
• 依托单位: University of Toronto
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2015-01-01 至 2016-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=574226
• 关键词: Probing; Large; Scale; Structure; Universe

I propose a program of study centered on detecting and characterizing the Large Scale Structure (LSS) of the Universe through observations of the radio and microwave sky. This research will probe the development of structure over 12 billion years of cosmic history, in order to answer fundamental questions about the Universe we live in. How did structure (in this context, galaxies and clusters of galaxies) form? Does Einstein's General Relatively explain gravity on cosmic scales? What is the nature of "Dark Energy," the negative pressure fluid proposed to explain cosmic acceleration? The 10m South Pole Telescope (SPT) studies the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), the so-called "afterglow" of the Big Bang, mapping the interactions of that light with all the material it has passed by on its way to our detectors. Variations in the density of the universe gravitationally lens this light, subtly distorting their patterns, and hot dense gas in the center of massive galaxy clusters alter its spectrum slightly. By studying these imprints, we can learn about the processes -- such as Dark Energy -- governing structure formation. The Canadian Hydrogen Mapping Experiment (CHIME) is a novel "digital" telescope which will study 21cm emission from neutral hydrogen, directly mapping structure over the largest volume of the Universe ever observed in a single survey. Rather than being physically steered to point at different parts of the sky, CHIME uses a powerful computational backend to simultaneously sample thousands of discrete points on the sky. Indeed, the telescope will have no moving parts, instead relying on the rotation of the earth to "scan" the sky as it drifts overhead. A reduced-scale "Pathfinder" is currently under construction, to be used in testing the technologies that will be required on -- and providing a proof-of-concept for -- the full instrument.

我提出了一项研究计划，以通过观测射电和微波天空来探测和表征宇宙的大尺度结构（LSS）为中心。这项研究将探索超过120亿年宇宙历史的结构发展，以回答有关我们所生活的宇宙的基本问题。结构（在这里指的是星系和星系团）是如何形成的？爱因斯坦的广义相对论能解释宇宙尺度上的引力吗？用来解释宇宙加速的负压流体“暗能量”的本质是什么？