Collaborative Research: Constraining Fuzzy Dark Matter with Cosmological Simulations

这个研究小组将对暗物质的本质进行广泛的理论和计算研究。利用计算机模拟来理解模糊暗物质（FDM）模型中的星系形成，他们将预测观测特征和大规模统计数据，并限制FDM粒子的质量值。这将允许用现有的或新的观察结果来验证、约束或排除FDM。这项研究直接影响了其他研究，包括下一代实验的设计，寻找可能存在暗物质粒子的直接证据。这项工作将把女性和代表性不足的少数民族学生与指导和研究项目联系起来，帮助培养一支多元化的、具有全球竞争力的STEM劳动力队伍，并为高中教师提供课程工具，吸引大量潜在的STEM学生。FDM是一个物理驱动的模型，可以解决当前冷暗物质解释所面临的小尺度天体物理挑战。它预测了许多可以观察到的小规模效应。这个项目将极大地提高我们对宇宙中超轻标量场非线性行为的理论认识。由于解析理论不能捕捉到所有重要的物理过程，这些最先进的数值模拟将建立新的观测方法来约束FDM模型。他们将探索暗物质的小规模动力学，区分不同的模型，并可能确定暗物质的本质。这项工作将产生开源工具和产品，可用于解释高红移星系的观测或银河系恒星的天体测量。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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 research team will carry out an extensive theoretical and computational investigation into the nature of dark matter. Using computer simulations to understand galaxy formation within this Fuzzy Dark Matter (FDM) model, they will predict observational signatures and large-scale statistics, and constrain the value for the mass of the FDM particle. This will allow FDM to be verified, constrained, or excluded with existing or new observations. This study directly affects other research, including the design of next-generation experiments searching for direct evidence of a possible dark matter particle. The work will connect women and under-represented minority students to mentorship and research projects, helping to develop a diverse, globally competitive STEM workforce, and provide curricular tools to high school teachers, to engage a large audience of potential STEM students. FDM is a physically motivated model that could solve the small-scale astrophysical challenges faced by the prevailing cold dark matter interpretation. It predicts many small-scale effects that might be observable. This project will dramatically improve our theoretical understanding of the nonlinear behavior of ultra-light scalar fields in the Universe. Because analytic theory does not capture all the important physical processes, these state-of-the-art numerical simulations will establish new ways for observations to constrain the FDM model. They will probe the small-scale dynamics of dark matter, distinguish between models, and possibly establish the nature of dark matter. The work will generate open-source tools and products which can be used to interpret observations of high-redshift galaxies or the astrometry of Milky Way stars.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.