Collaborative Proposal: Measuring the Physical Properties of Dark Matter with Strong Gravitational Lensing

引力透镜是由一个大质量物体产生的，比如一个星系或星系团，它位于遥远的天文源头和观测者之间。该物体可能无法直接探测到，但当光线向观察者传播时，它会使来自远处光源的光线发生弯曲。该项目将提供一种新的暗物质性质测量方法，使目前的强引力透镜数量增加四倍，显著增强我们对暗物质本质的理解。此外，该计划将提高暗物质测量方法的稳健性，为预计将在遗产时空调查(LSST)中发现的数千个引力透镜做准备。这些结果将提供新的建模技术，减少与现有暗物质模型相关的不确定性，并提供一个框架来测试各种理论动机的暗物质模型的参数。该项目还涉及加州-布里奇项目，该项目为历史上代表性不足的群体的本科生准备进入物理学和天文学研究生院学习。调查人员还将支持山猫夏季STEM学院，这是一门为期一周的课程，向默塞德地区的K-12学生教授暗物质和引力透镜的基础知识，这是一个服务极其匮乏的群体，只有14%的大学学历。这个项目还包括公众讨论和为在线课程“可持续能源物理学”制作新的YouTube材料。这个项目将实现以下目标：(1)显著增加已知引力透镜的样本，在冷暗物质(CDM)模型的情况下，将对晕质量函数的半模质量的约束提高到原来的10倍；(2)使用透镜活动星系核的多幅图像的宿主星系来约束偏转器宏观模型，这将使我们对晕质量函数周转的约束提高0.5度；(3)测试各种理论驱动的暗物质模型，包括几种类型的热和自我相互作用的暗物质，以及原始黑洞。这一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学术价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

A gravitational lens is created by a massive object, such as a galaxy or cluster of galaxies, that lies between a distant astronomical source and an observer. The object might not be directly detectable, but it will bend the light from the distant source as the light travels toward the observer. This project will provide a new measurement of the properties of dark matter in quadruple the current number of strong gravitational lenses, significantly enhancing our understanding of the nature of dark matter. In addition, the program will improve the robustness of the dark matter measurement method in preparation for the thousands of gravitational lenses expected to be discovered in the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). The results will provide new modeling techniques that will reduce the uncertainty associated with the existing dark matter models, and provide a framework to test parameters for a variety of theoretically motivated dark matter models. This project also involves the Cal-Bridge program, which prepares undergraduates from historically under-represented groups for admission to graduate school in physics and astronomy. The investigators will also support the Bobcat Summer STEM academy, a weeklong course which teaches the basics of dark matter and gravitational lensing to K-12 students in the Merced region, an extremely under-served population with only 14% college attainment. This project also involves public talks and the production of new YouTube material for the online “Physics of Sustainable Energy” course.This project will achieve the following objectives: (1) Significantly increase the sample of known gravitational lenses, improving constraints on the half-mode mass of the halo mass function by a factor of 10 in the case of a Cold Dark Matter (CDM) model; (2) Use the multiply-imaged host galaxy of the lensed active galactic nucleus to constrain the deflector macromodel, which will improve our constraints on a turnover in the halo mass function by 0.5 dex; (3) Test a variety of theoretically motivated dark matter models, including several flavors of warm and self-interacting dark matter, and primordial black holes.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.