Planetesimal formation, giant planet migration, and stellar accretion in our solar system and beyond

该奖项全部或部分根据2021年美国救援计划法案（公法117-2）资助。 格雷厄姆·爱德华兹被授予NSF天文学和天体物理学博士后奖学金，在达特茅斯学院进行研究和教育计划。 爱德华兹将对陨石的化学成分进行计算统计研究，以阐明早期太阳系的行星形成过程。 这项研究的结果将完善我们对太阳系历史的理解，并为太阳系外系统的模型提供信息。 在这个项目的教育部分，爱德华兹将开发一个博物馆外展计划，探索科学家如何利用陨石来研究太阳系的历史和行星的形成。这个项目将从最大的集中收集的公开陨石数据中提取陨石的化学成分，以研究（1）陨石与其组成成分之间的关系，（2）巨行星迁移的时间尺度，（3）原行星盘在塑造太阳组成中的作用。 这项统计研究将测试大量化学聚类是否改进了将陨石分组为家族的标准方法，以及组成陨石或球粒陨石基质是否由共享的材料库形成。 该项目还将测试太阳光球层中耐火元素的不足是否是由于它们优先并入原行星体。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). Graham Edwards is awarded an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship to conduct a program of research and education at Dartmouth College. Edwards will perform a computational statistical study of meteorite chemical composition to elucidate planetary formation processes in the early Solar System. Results from this study will refine our understanding of the history of the Solar System and inform models of extrasolar systems. For the education component of this project, Edwards will develop a museum outreach program to explore how scientists use meteorites to study Solar System history and planet formation.This project will extract meteorite chemical compositions from the largest centralized collection of publicly available meteorite data to study (1) relationships between meteorites and their constituent components, (2) timescales of giant planet migration, and (3) the role of the protoplanetary disk in shaping the solar composition. This statistical study will test whether bulk chemical clustering improves upon standard methods of grouping meteorites into families and whether constituent chondrites or chondrite matrices formed from a shared reservoir of material. The project will also test whether the deficit of refractory elements in the solar photosphere is due to their preferential incorporation in protoplanetary bodies.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.