Collaborative Research: White Dwarfs and the Age Distribution of the Disk, Thick Disk, and Halo

AST-0607599INSTUTION：亚利桑那大学PI：James LiebertTITLE：合作研究：白矮星和盘、厚盘和光晕的年龄分布。亚利桑那大学的詹姆斯·利伯特和德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校的特德·冯·希佩尔博士将开展一项计划，以确定盘、厚盘和银晕中白矮星的光度函数和空间密度。该团队将利用斯隆数字巡天(SDSS)中新发现的数万颗白矮星。找到亮度最低的白矮星将允许对所要制作的盘的年龄进行精确化，并且将第一次使用白矮星冷却时间的方法获得厚盘和晕的年龄。此外，光度函数的形状应该允许重建群体的恒星形成历史。该计划的更广泛影响包括参加在麦克唐纳天文台举办的教师专业发展研讨会。这些研讨会是与一位合作者(哈里·希普曼博士)以及麦当劳天文台和亚利桑那大学的教育和外展工作人员合作的。课程内容和研讨会实践符合国家科学教育标准以及德克萨斯州、亚利桑那州和特拉华州的科学标准。

AST-0607599INSTITUTION: University of ArizonaPI: James LiebertTITLE: Collaborative Research: White Dwarfs and the Age Distribution of the Disk, Thick Disk, and HaloABSTRACTDr. James Liebert, at the University of Arizona, and Dr. Ted von Hippel, at the University of Texas at Austin, will undertake a program to determine the luminosity functions and space densities of the white dwarfs in the disk, thick disk, and Galactic halo. The team will utilize the tens of thousands of new white dwarfs, made accessible in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Finding the lowest luminosity white dwarfs will allow for a refinement in the age of the disk to be made, and for the first time the ages of the thick disk and halo will be obtained using the method of white dwarf cooling times. Additionally, the shape of the luminosity functions should allow for the star formation history of the population to be reconstructed. The broader impacts of the program include participation in the teacher professional development workshops held at McDonald Observatory. The workshops are a collaboration with a collaborator (Dr. Harry Shipman) and the education and outreach staff at McDonald Observatory and the University of Arizona. Curriculum content and workshop practices align with the National Standards for Science Education and Texas, Arizona, and Delaware science standards.