UCL Astrophysics Consolidated Grant 2012-2015

在过去的25年里，天文学的世界发生了翻天覆地的变化。我们现在知道，我们的宇宙不仅在扩张，而且还在以不断增长的速度扩张。在一种名为暗能量的神秘驱动力的推动下，星系，如我们的银河系，正在以如此巨大的加速度相互冲离，以至于即使是强大的引力也无法将宇宙保持在一起。伦敦大学学院天体物理学小组的研究人员正在用他们雄心勃勃的未来几年的研究计划来检验这些发现。天文学家将在未来十年利用暗能量调查绘制一张包含3亿个星系的地图，并将其与普朗克卫星上新的宇宙微波背景图结合在一起，以了解早期宇宙的条件，探测中微子粒子的微小质量，并在最大范围内检验爱因斯坦的广义相对论。在天文尺度的另一端，25年前，我们只知道我们自己的太阳系中的行星--今天有八颗，包括冥王星、卡隆和谷神星等小行星，以及小行星和彗星。今天，由于发现了太阳系外行星，即绕太阳以外的恒星运行的行星，这一数字超过了2000，而且还在不断增加。那么，这些“系外行星”和我们已经知道的行星一样吗？这些系外行星系统和我们的行星系统一样吗？到目前为止，答案是否定的，伦敦大学学院的计划还包括一些项目，以找出系外行星是什么样子，它们的大气是由什么组成的，它们在与影响我们的地球和最近的邻居的条件非常不同的条件下表现如何。在这两个极端之间，我们的项目将探测围绕木星和土星等行星的巨大磁场，以及这些磁场如何与行星大气相互作用。系外行星也可能有这样的磁场；了解它们在太阳系中的工作方式将有助于我们理解甚至探测系外行星系统。我们将探索恒星和它们周围的行星是如何从巨大的气体和尘埃云中形成的，以及恒星之间发生的化学如何影响和控制这些关键过程。伦敦大学学院的天体物理团队还将研究恒星在被称为超新星的巨大爆炸中的死亡，以及在死亡过程中，巨星如何将他们的心倾泻到银河系中，用气体、尘埃和化学物质丰富它们，创造新的恒星、新的行星甚至新的生命。除非天文学家不断改进他们进行天空研究的设备--望远镜和探测器--否则这些都不可能完成。因此，伦敦大学学院的仪器制造商将创造更灵敏的探测器和光谱仪，拥有越来越好的光学表面，用来装备下一代望远镜和太空任务。天文学家需要用更复杂的数学技术来模拟他们研究的宇宙。因此，伦敦大学学院的计算机专家将生成在该大学超级计算机上运行的复杂模型，以生成所需的基本分子数据，并模拟早期宇宙、不断演变的星系以及居住在其中的恒星和行星系统的条件。但是，除非我们的同胞能够分享我们小组工作的奇迹和兴奋，否则所有这些都将被浪费。因此，天体物理学@UCL将确保其成员继续通过演讲和讲座、通过公共活动和媒体解释他们的工作，激励下一代科学家，帮助和挑战行业开发新技术，并确保我们对宇宙的理解变得更加深入和广泛。

In the last twenty-five years, the world of astronomy has been turned upside down. We now know that not only is our universe expanding, but that it is expanding at an ever-increasing rate. Fuelled by a mysterious driver called Dark Energy - galaxies, such as our Milky Way, are rushing away from each other at such enormous acceleration that not even the powerful force of gravity can hold the universe together. The researchers of UCL's Astrophysics Group are putting to the test these discoveries with their ambitious programme of research for the coming years. A map of 300 million galaxies that astronomers will put together using the Dark Energy Survey over the next decade will be combined with a new chart of the Cosmic Microwave Background from the Planck satellite to understand the conditions in the early universe, to detect the tiny mass of the Neutrino particle and to test Einstein's theory of general Relativity on the largest scales. At the other end of the astronomical scale, 25 years ago we knew only of the planets in our own Solar System - eight by today's count, with minor planets like Pluto, Charon and Ceres, along with asteroids and comets. Today the score is over 2000 and counting, thanks to the discovery of extra-solar planets, i.e. planets orbiting stars other than our own Sun. So are these "exo-planets" like the ones we already know? Are these exoplanet systems like our planetary system? So far, the answer is "no", and UCL's programme also contains projects to find out just what exo-planets are like, what their atmospheres are made of, and how they behave in conditions very different from those affecting our Earth and its nearest neighbours.And in between these two extremes, our projects will probe the giant magnetic fields that surround planets like Jupiter and Saturn, and how these interact with the planet's atmosphere. Exo-planets may also have such magnetic fields; knowing how they work in our Solar System will help us understand and even detect exo-planetary systems. We will probe just how stars and the planets around them form from vast gas and dust clouds, and how the chemistry that goes on between the stars affects and controls those crucial processes. UCL's astrophysics team will also look at the death of stars in giant explosions called supernovas and how, in dying, huge stars pour their hearts back out into the galaxy, enriching them with the gas, dust and chemical soups required to make new stars, new planets and even new life.None of this can be done unless astronomers continually improve the equipment - the telescopes and their detectors - with which they carry out their studies of the heavens. So UCL's instrument makers will create ever-more sensitive detectors and spectrometers, with better and better optical surfaces, with which to equip the next generation of telescopes and space missions. And astronomers need to model the universe they study with ever more complex mathematical techniques. So UCL's computer experts will generate the sophisticated models, running on the university's supercomputers, to generate the basic molecular data needed, and simulate the conditions in the early universe, the evolving galaxies and the stars and planetary systems that inhabit them. But all of this will be wasted unless our fellow citizens get to share in the wonder and excitement of our group's work. So Astrophysics@UCL will ensure that its members continue to explain their work through talks and lectures, through public events, and through the media, inspiring the next generation of scientists, helping and challenging industry to develop new technologies, and ensuring that our understanding of the universe becomes ever deeper and wider.