CDS&E: Black Holes in Dense Star Clusters

许多恒星形成于包含数千到数百万个物体的大型星团中。这些星团中的恒星出生时质量范围很广。此外，质量最大的恒星进化得很快，在几百万年的时间里就结束了生命，留下了黑洞作为残留物。然而，星团本身可以继续存在数十亿年，事实上，在许多星系中看到的球状星团被认为包含了宇宙中一些最古老的恒星。因此，我们今天看到的许多星团应该包含大量很久以前形成的黑洞。这项研究将使用最先进的超级计算机模拟来研究这些黑洞在各种星团环境中的形成和演化。它还将利用创新的混合计算技术，包括图形处理单元（GPGPU）上的通用计算。黑洞形成和演化的研究在物理学和物理学的许多领域都很重要。天文学，包括星系的形成和宇宙学，类星体的研究和其他活动；星系核，广义相对论和引力波天文学。为这个项目开发的恒星动力学超级计算机代码是通用的工具，这将是非常有用的。他研究了许多其他问题，涉及有或没有大质量黑洞的密集星团。计划中的研究活动将涉及对西北大学本科生的培训，其中可能包括来自少数族裔的学生。研究生students& # 8232;还将接受培训和指导。外展活动也已计划，将采取&amp；#8232；利用埃文斯顿西北校区迪尔伯恩天文台的优势，以及附近芝加哥阿德勒天文馆和天文博物馆的资源。

Many stars form in large clusters containing anywhere from thousands to many millions of objects. Stars in these clusters are born with a broad range of masses. Furthermore, the most massive stars evolve quickly, ending their lives in just a few million years and leaving behind black holes as remnants. The star clusters themselves, however, can continue to live for many billions of years, and indeed the globular clusters seen in many galaxies are thought to contain some of the oldest stars in the Universe. Therefore, many of the star clusters we see today should contain large numbers of black holes formed a long time ago. This research will use state-of-the-art supercomputer simulations to study the formation and evolution of these black holes in a variety of star cluster environments. It will also leverage innovative hybrid computational techniques, including General-Purpose computing on Graphics Processing Units (GPGPU).The study of black hole formation and evolution is important in many areas of physics and
astronomy, including galaxy formation and cosmology, the study of quasars and other active
galactic nuclei, general relativity and gravitational wave astronomy. The stellar dynamics supercomputer codes to be developed for this project are general tools, which will be useful
for studying many other problems involving dense star clusters with or without massive black
holes. The planned research activities will involve the training of undergraduate students at Northwestern University, and will likely include students from under-represented minorities. Graduate students
will also receive training and mentoring. Outreach activities are also planned that will take
advantage of Dearborn Observatory on the Northwestern campus in Evanston, as well as the resources of the nearby Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum in Chicago.