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: 2020
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2020-01-01 至 2021-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=709807
• 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.

加拿大总理哈珀宣布承诺为该项目提供2.435亿美元，这证实了加拿大参与30米望远镜的建造和运营。我是发展赠款的PI，这些赠款与NRC配套资金一起为加拿大在施工前阶段创造了约3500万美元的价值。像其他大科学项目一样，TMT将面临一系列复杂的挑战，因为它将发展成为一个功能强大的天文台。我是TMT国际天文台的理事（信托职位）。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，继续与我们在加拿大的工业合作伙伴保持联系，得到了多伦多大学校长的大力支持，并在所有合作国家拥有科学朋友，帮助加拿大人与他们合作，这对学生和PDF来说是一个很好的机会。 暗能量正在加速宇宙的膨胀。基本上，我们对它的物理性质一无所知。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光谱仪，以比以往任何时候都更精确地测量暗能量的属性。同样的数据也有广泛和不同的用途，用于对银河系结构、星系演化和类星体的整个宇宙历史进行天体物理学研究。 暗物质被认为是“冷”的，这意味着它应该被引力束缚在相对低质量的子晕中，在我们银河系的晕中以平滑的暗物质分布轨道运行。检验这些次晕是否存在的一个实际方法是检查从球状星团中拉出的可见恒星流是否沿其长度有“间隙”沿着。在今后几年中，预计数据将大幅改善，并确认或排除此类差距。 在埃尔斯米尔岛建立一个天文观测站将有许多好处。它不是在其他国家设立观测站，而是在我们的国家设立观测站，这将使天文学家有机会与北方的加拿大人定期接触，向他们介绍科学的激动人心之处，并帮助他们更充分地参与加拿大各大学在任何领域的工作。 我们的初步现场测试证实了埃尔斯米尔现场的高质量（远远优于加拿大南部的任何地方）。北极提供了24小时的夜晚，一个清晰，寒冷，干燥的天空红外观测的好处。虽然冬天很冷，但它可以与加拿大人毫无困难地工作的萨斯卡通等城市相媲美。