Millimeter-wavelength transients and sources with the Atacama Cosmology Telescope and the Simons Observatory

对宇宙微波背景辐射的精确测量寻求更清晰的大爆炸物理学图像。 获取这些数据的望远镜也捕捉到了来自恒星和星系的相同波长的光。 该项目将构建利用这些度量的软件管道。每天，这些望远镜都会扫描天空并制作更新的图像，让可变的来源被识别。 在这十年中，升级的望远镜将产生更多更好的这类数据。 这些时间分辨数据将有助于发现新的未知现象类别，其中可能包括特殊的超新星、伽马射线爆发、超大质量黑洞周围恒星的潮汐破裂、恒星耀斑以及太阳系中其他天体的发现，包括一颗假设的未被发现的行星9。该项目的兴奋将通过各种外展计划传达给公众，其中包括一个针对塔拉哈西附近农村地区居民的计划。宽场毫米波调查的新时域研究正在开辟一个广阔的未开发的发现空间。 在这个项目中，毫米波瞬变和点状源将使用来自高级阿塔卡马宇宙学望远镜的数据来识别，该望远镜现在正在测量超过18，000平方度的区域，西蒙斯天文台将在2020年代中期对类似区域进行更灵敏的测量。 将开发软件工具和管道，以（1）开发和实施一个系统，根据实时瞬态警报挖掘西蒙斯天文台的每日数据;（2）对存档和实时数据中的毫米波瞬态进行触发和盲搜索;（3）为ACT和西蒙斯天文台调查编制和发布温度和偏振方面的点源目录;支持高红移源候选者的后续计划。这个奖项反映了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。

Precision measurements of the cosmic microwave background radiation seek a clearer picture of the physics of the Big Bang. The telescopes that take such data also capture light from stars and galaxies that emit at the same wavelengths. This project would build software pipelines that take advantage of these measurements. Each day, these telescopes scan the sky and make an updated image, letting sources that are variable to be identified. During this decade, upgraded telescopes will produce more and better data of this kind. Such time-resolved data will permit new classes of unknown phenomena to be found. This may include exceptional supernovae, gamma ray bursts, tidal disruptions of stars around supermassive black holes, stellar flares and the discovery of additional bodies in the solar system, including a hypothetical and undiscovered Planet 9. The excitement of this project will be conveyed to the public via a variety of outreach programs including one targeting people living in rural areas near Tallahassee.New, time-domain studies of wide-field millimeter-wave surveys are opening a vast, unexplored discovery space. In this project, millimeter-wave transients and point-like sources will be identified using data from the Advanced Atacama Cosmology Telescope, now surveying areas that exceed 18,000 square degrees, and the Simons Observatory, which by the mid-2020s will produce more sensitive measurements over a similar area. Software tools and pipelines will be developed to (1) develop and implement a system to mine daily Simons Observatory data based on real-time transient alerts; (2) perform triggered and blind searches for mm-wave transients in archival and live data; (3) prepare and release point source catalogs in temperature and polarization for the ACT and Simons Observatory surveys; and (4) support a follow-up program for high redshift source candidates. The project supports a number of outreach programs that involve the general public, K-12 students and undergraduate as well as graduate students.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.