Black Hole Weather: Observing it, Predicting it, and Sharing it

AST-0602259 Rothstein，David Dr.罗斯坦被授予NSF天文学和天体物理学博士后奖学金，在康奈尔大学开展研究和教育计划。罗斯坦博士将进行一个独特的理论和观察的综合，以回答以下问题：我们如何预测黑洞周围的天气？最近对恒星质量黑洞周围的吸积盘和喷流的观测已经产生了许多关于这些物体可能处于的各种状态的细节，但相对而言，人们对触发这些状态之间的转换或天气的原因知之甚少。这些转变是理解黑洞和其他天体周围喷流形成的关键，因此它们非常有趣。罗斯坦博士将与美国合作-俄罗斯康奈尔大学等离子体天体物理学合作，综合GRS 1915+105和其他黑洞候选者的观测数据，搜索可用于预测天气的模式，并将其直接与一维和二维模拟的天气预报进行比较，以了解驱动这些物体吸积的异常粘性的演变及其与喷流形成的关系。这一综合的结果将被放置在一个互动的网站上，这将是研究界和广大公众感兴趣的。罗斯坦博士还将借鉴他与纽约北部学区合作的经验，开始开发一个教育网站，使教师能够相互分享教案，他将和老师们一起完成物理学和天文学的课堂项目，这些项目可以放在这个网站上。

AST-0602259Rothstein, DavidDr. Rothstein is awarded an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship to carry out a program of research and education at Cornell University. Dr. Rothstein will conduct a unique synthesis of theory and observation in order to answer the following question: How well can we predict the weather around a black hole? Recent observations of the accretion disks and jets surrounding stellar-mass black holes have yielded many details about the various states that these objects can be in, but comparatively little is known about what triggers the transitions between these states, or the weather. These transitions are the key to understanding the formation of jets around black holes and other astrophysical objects, and they are therefore of great interest. Dr. Rothstein will work with the U.S.-Russia Collaboration in Plasma Astrophysics at Cornell University to synthesize observational data on GRS 1915+105 and other black hole candidates, search it for patterns that can be used to predict the weather, and compare it directly to weather forecasts made from one- and two-dimensional simulations, in order to understand the evolution of the anomalous viscosity that drives accretion in these objects and its relationship to the formation of jets. The results of this synthesis will be placed on an interactive website that will be of interest to the research community and the public at large.Dr. Rothstein will also draw on his experience working with school districts in upstate New York to begin the development of an education website that allows teachers to share lesson plans with each other, and he will work with teachers on classroom projects in physics and astronomy that can be put on this website.