Near field cosmology in and around the Local Group

本星系群及其周围的近场宇宙学

• 批准号: 435084-2013
• 负责人: McConnachie, Alan
• 金额: $ 1.68万
• 依托单位: University of Victoria
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2017-01-01 至 2018-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=633463
• 关键词: Near; field; cosmology; around; Local

How galaxies like our own Milky Way form and evolve is a major unanswered question in modern astronomy. Over the last decade, several distinct lines of enquiry in astronomy have converged to place significant focus on the study of the Milky Way and its nearest neighbours, targets that are unique in astronomy due to our ability to resolve the individual stars that light these galaxies up. On the observational side, we have discovered a huge number of new, very small, galaxies that surround the Milky Way and which have clearly been affected by being so close to a large galaxy like ours. On the theory side, it has become evident that our model of the evolution of the Universe - that works remarkably well when we look on the largest cosmic scales - struggles to explain the properties of these small galaxies. On technology fronts, new instruments are being developed that will allow us to dissect the properties of galaxies - large and small - at ever greater distances and with unprecedented accuracy by resolving each of their individual stars. My proposed research program is placed at the interface of these lines of enquiry, and will examine how the properties of these small galaxies change as we get further away from the Milky Way, to regions where these small systems have been able to evolve peacefully over their entire history. Is the difficulty that astronomers have in explaining what small galaxies look like a result of our model of galaxy formation being completely wrong, or is it because the galaxies we were looking at have been bashed about too much by the Milky Way to be good examples for us to compare the models to? In probing these questions, my research program will use some of the newest instruments available to not only answer these key science questions, but also to understand how to better develop the underlying technology to be best suited for this science.

在现代天文学中，星系如何像我们自己的银河系形式和发展是一个主要的未解决问题。在过去的十年中，天文学中的几条不同的询问线融合在一起，重点关注银河系及其最近的邻居的研究，这些目标是天文学独特的目标，这是由于我们能够解决这些星系亮起这些星系的单个恒星。在观察方面，我们发现了围绕银河系的大量新的，非常小的星系，并且显然受到了像我们这样的大型星系的影响。从理论方面来说，很明显的是，我们的宇宙演变模型 - 当我们看最大的宇宙尺度时，它的效果非常好 - 难以解释这些小星系的特性。在技​​术方面，正在开发新的仪器，这将使我们能够在更大的距离上剖析星系的特性，并且可以通过解决每个恒星来以前所未有的准确性。我提出的研究计划位于这些询问线的界面上，并将研究这些小星系的特性如何变化，因为我们从银河系远离银河系，到这些小型系统能够在整个历史上和平发展的地区。天文学家在解释哪些小星系看起来像是我们星系形成模型的结果是完全错误的结果，还是因为我们所看到的星系被银河系过多地抨击，以使我们成为模型与模型相比的好例子？在探讨这些问题时，我的研究计划将使用一些可用的最新工具来回答这些关键科学问题，还可以了解如何更好地开发基础技术，以最适合这项科学。