Presidential Young Investigator (PYI) Award: QSO Absorption Lines

这一总统青年研究员奖将支持开发新的仪器和观测，致力于研究类星体的内在属性和物质沿视线向这些极远天体的分布。在高红移类星体的光谱中所看到的莱曼-阿尔法吸收线“森林”通常被归因于由来自大爆炸的新鲜物质的元素组成的介入性的前星系或原星系物质。通过开发新的、更强大、更灵敏的光谱仪，并用它们来研究这种材料和它们以外的类星体，这位杰出的年轻科学家将探索发生在非常早期的宇宙中的物理过程。

This Presidential Young Investigator award will support the development of new instrumentation and observations dedicated to the study of the intrinsic properties of quasars and the distribution of matter along the line of sight to these extremely distant objects. The Lyman-alpha "forest" of absorption lines seen in the spectra of high redshift quasars is generally ascribed to intervening pre-galactic or proto-galactic material with the elemental composition of material fresh from the big bang. By developing new, more powerful and sensitive spectrometers and using them to study this material and the quasars beyond them, this outstanding young scientist will probe the physical processes occurring in the very early universe.