Collaborative Project: Deep Starcounts and the Structure of the Milky Way

卡内基研究所的9412265名汤普森博士伊恩·汤普森和史蒂文·马耶夫斯基将与加州理工大学的伊恩·里德博士一起参与一个合作项目，该项目涉及使用现代探测器对经典恒星计数问题进行首次系统研究。多年来，作为银河系纬度和经度函数的恒星星等分布一直是我们银河系整体结构的有效探测器。尽管人们对银河系结构很感兴趣，但在过去的十年里，很少有新的恒星计数数据公布。这个项目的目的是用最先进的探测器获得深入、准确的观测，以测试和改进由这些研究人员准备的临时银河系模型。有了大量定义恒星计数模型的参数(包括密度定律、光度函数和每个种群和子种群的三维形式)，进一步的观测对于测试临时模型与银河系结构的匹配程度是必不可少的。这些研究人员的目标是产生一个全球自洽且物理上可解释的银河系模型。

9412265 Thompson Drs. Ian Thompson and Steven Majewski, at the Carnegie Institution, will participate on a collaborative project with Dr. Iain Reid, at Cal Tech, which involves the first systematic study of a classical starcount problem using modern detectors. Starcounts -- the stellar magnitude distribution as a function of Galactic latitude and longitude -- have served as an effective probe of the overall structure of our Galaxy for many years. Despite considerable interest in Galactic structure, little new starcount data have been published in the past decade. The aim of this project is to obtain deep, accurate observations with state-of-the-art detectors to test and improve on an interim Galactic model prepared by these researchers. With a profusion of parameters that define a starcount model (including the density laws, luminosity functions, and three-dimensional form of each population and sub-population) further observations are essential to test how well the interim model matches the Galactic structure. These researchers aim to produce a model of the Galaxy which is globally self-consistent and physically interpretable.