Dark Matter, Dark Energy, Telescopes

暗物质、暗能量、望远镜

• 批准号: RGPIN-2016-05560
• 负责人: Carlberg, Raymond
• 金额: $ 3.64万
• 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: 2016
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2016-01-01 至 2017-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=615770
• 关键词: Dark; Matter; Energy; Telescopes

Canadian participation in the construction and operation of the Thirty Meter Telescope was confirmed in Prime Minister Harper’s announcement of a commitment of $243.5M towards the project. I was PI of the development grants which together with NRC matching funds built up about $35M in value for Canada in the pre-construction phase. Like other Big Science projects TMT will face a series of complex challenges as it is developed into a functioning observatory. I am a governor of the TMT International Observatory (a fiduciary position). I have begun to help organize meetings in Canada to position us for future instrumentation, continue to maintain links with our industrial partners in Canada, have the strong support of the President of the University of Toronto, and have scientific friends in all the partner countries to help Canadians work with them, which is a great opportunity for students and PDFs. Dark Energy is currently causing the expansion of the universe to accelerate. Essentially nothing is known about its physics. The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument collaboration, of which I have joined as member, is building a massive new spectrograph to measure the properties of dark energy more precisely than ever before. The same data also has wide and varied uses for astrophysical investigations of the structure of the Milky Way, galaxy evolution and quasars over essentially all their entire cosmic history. Dark matter is believed to be “cold”, which means that it should be gravitationally bound into relatively low mass sub-halos orbiting in smoothed-out dark matter distribution in the halo of our own galaxy. A practical way to test for the presence of these sub-halos is to examine whether visible star-streams drawn out of globular clusters have “gaps” along their length. In the next few years the data is expected to improve dramatically and either confirm or rule out such gaps. Establishing an astronomical observatory on Ellesmere Island would have many benefits. Rather than operate observatories in other countries, it would be in ours and would give astronomers a chance to have regular contact with Canadians in the north and to communicate the excitement of science to them and help them participate more fully in Canadian universities in any field of endeavour. Our rudimentary site testing confirms the high quality of an Ellesmere site (far better than anything in southern Canada). The arctic offers the benefit of 24 hour nights, a clear, cold, dry sky for infrared observations. Although cold in the winter, it is comparable to cities like Saskatoon where Canadians work without difficulty.

哈珀总理宣布承诺为该项目投入 2.435 亿美元，确认了加拿大参与 30 米望远镜的建设和运营。我是开发补助金的主要负责人，这些补助金与 NRC 配套资金一起，在施工前阶段为加拿大创造了约 3500 万美元的价值。与其他大科学项目一样，TMT 在发展成为一个正常运作的观测站时将面临一系列复杂的挑战。我是 TMT 国际观察站的理事（受托职位）。我已经开始帮助在加拿大组织会议，为我们未来的仪器定位，继续与加拿大的工业合作伙伴保持联系，得到多伦多大学校长的大力支持，并在所有合作伙伴国家都有科学朋友来帮助加拿大人与他们合作，这对学生和 PDF 来说都是一个很好的机会。 暗能量目前正在导致宇宙加速膨胀。基本上对其物理原理一无所知。我作为成员加入的暗能量光谱仪器合作组织正在建造一个巨大的新型光谱仪，以比以往更精确地测量暗能量的特性。同样的数据对于银河系结构、星系演化和类星体的整个宇宙历史的天体物理学研究也有广泛而多样的用途。 暗物质被认为是“冷的”，这意味着它应该被引力束缚在质量相对较低的子晕中，在我们星系晕中平滑的暗物质分布中运行。测试这些子晕是否存在的一种实用方法是检查从球状星团中引出的可见星流沿其长度是否有“间隙”。未来几年，数据预计将大幅改善，并证实或排除此类差距。 在埃尔斯米尔岛建立天文台会有很多好处。它不会在其他国家运营天文台，而是在我们的国家运营，让天文学家有机会与北方的加拿大人定期接触，向他们传达科学的乐趣，并帮助他们更充分地参与加拿大大学任何领域的研究。我们的基本站点测试证实了埃尔斯米尔站点的高质量（远远优于加拿大南部的任何站点）。北极拥有 24 小时的夜晚、晴朗、寒冷、干燥的天空，适合红外观测。冬天虽然寒冷，但可与萨斯卡通等加拿大人工作毫无困难的城市相媲美。