Network for Neutrinos, Nuclear Astrophysics, and Symmetries

在新仪器的推动下，一场天体物理学的革命正在进行中，这些仪器通过多个天体物理信使观察宇宙中最不寻常的事件。合并的中子星已经通过它们的引力波和它们喷出的热碎片所发射的电磁辐射被观测到。银河系内坍塌的恒星产生了巨大的中微子流量，这些中微子在巨大的地下探测器中被观测到，同时也在戏剧性的超新星中照亮了夜空。这些爆炸产生的极端条件--能量、持续温度、物质密度--超出了地球上所能意识到的任何条件。中微子、核天体物理学和对称性物理前沿中心网络(N3AS-PFC)是理论家们的合作，他们利用这些观测来回答物理学中一些最重要的悬而未决的问题：重元素是如何产生的，在中子星中心发现的超高密度核物质是什么形式，以及我们如何利用天体物理实验室测试中微子和暗物质的性质？这些答案有可能影响核物理、粒子物理学和天体物理学的未来方向。N3AS-PFC正在培养的新一代博士后研究人员及其招募和聘用的不同学生群体将对当前的研究和该领域的未来都至关重要。N3AS-PFC将通过将潜在的核和中微子微物理知识与最先进的天体物理数值模拟工具相结合，探索极端天体物理环境中的物理学。这项工作将在许多科学战线上进行。N3AS-PFC将发展千新星理论--中子星合并的光学对应物--以确定这种环境是否能够维持必要的核合成链。N3AS-PFC将开发理论工具来描述几倍于核密度的核物质，从而将基本核物理与中子星的性质联系起来，包括它们的质量、半径、变形能力和长期冷却。N3AS-PFC将应用新工具来理解在超新星核心产生的密集纠缠中微子海的高度复杂的味道物理。由于中子星、超新星和大爆炸等现象激发了学生的想象力，N3AS-PFC将建立一个以社区大学为重点的推广计划，鼓励并支持转学的学生从事天体物理学研究。N3AS-PFC还将为博士后研究员提供广泛的培训机会和多位导师的支持，为他们成为未来多信使天体物理学的领导者做好准备。通过研究和教育计划，N3AS-PFC奖直接针对NSF的“宇宙之窗：多信使天体物理学时代”的大理想。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

A revolution in astrophysics is underway, driven by new instruments that view the universe’s most extraordinary events through multiple astrophysical messengers. Merging neutron stars have been observed through their gravitational waves and through the electromagnetic radiation emitted by the hot debris they eject. Collapsing stars within the Milky Way produce prodigious fluxes of neutrinos that are observed in massive underground detectors, while also brightening the night sky in dramatic supernova. These explosions generate extreme conditions – energies, sustained temperatures, matter densities – beyond any realized on earth. The Network for Neutrinos, Nuclear Astrophysics and Symmetries Physics Frontier Center (N3AS-PFC) is a collaboration of theorists who utilize these observations to answer some of the most important open questions in physics: how were the heavy elements created, what is the form of the super-dense nuclear matter found at the center of a neutron star, and how can we test the properties of neutrinos and dark matter using astrophysical laboratories? The answers have the potential to influence the future directions of nuclear, particle, and astrophysics. The new generation of postdoctoral researchers that N3AS-PFC is training and the diverse group of students it recruits and engages will be crucial to both current research and the field’s future.The N3AS-PFC will explore the physics in extreme astrophysical environments by combining knowledge of the underlying nuclear and neutrino microphysics, with the most advanced tools for numerical simulations in astrophysics. The work will proceed on a number of scientific fronts. N3AS-PFC will develop the theory of kilonovae – the optical counterpart of a neutron star merger – to determine whether this environment can sustain the necessary chain of nucleosynthesis. N3AS-PFC will develop theoretical tools for describing nuclear matter at several times nuclear density, thereby relating fundamental nuclear physics to properties of neutron stars, including their masses, radii, deformability, and long-term cooling. N3AS-PFC will apply new tools to understand the highly complex flavor physics of the dense sea of entangled neutrinos created in the cores of supernovae. Because phenomena like neutron stars, supernovae, and the Big Bang fire the imagination of students, N3AS-PFC will establish an outreach program focused on community colleges to encourage and then support transferring students to pursue research in astrophysics. N3AS-PFC will also provide postdoctoral Fellows with broad training opportunities and the support of multiple mentors, preparing them to become future leaders in multi-messenger astrophysics. Through the research and educational programs this N3AS-PFC award directly addresses the goals of NSF’s “Windows on the Universe: The Era of Multi-Messenger Astrophysics” Big Idea.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.