UCL Astronomy Group Travel Grant

20多年前，我们只知道太阳系中的行星。今天，我们已经发现了数千颗围绕其他恒星运行的所谓系外行星，包括我们最近的恒星。哪些恒星形成行星？行星是如何形成的？行星和恒星最终是由星际物质（气体）形成的，这些物质在恒星的生命周期中被更重的元素所富集。因此，这种富集是如何通过超新星爆炸和/或恒星风发生的，恒星形成过程本身是如何发生的，以及形成恒星的气体中化学反应的作用，都是需要解决的基本问题。恒星数量的增加以及气体和尘埃的作用及其化学成分是解开星系形成和演化之谜的关键部分。换句话说，我们今天在局部宇宙中看到的星系动物园是如何产生的——从大爆炸后的第一个10亿年到今天？在整个宇宙时间里，星系中的恒星形成过程是如何进行的——哪些物理过程可能会阻止或减缓星系中的恒星形成，这些过程将对当今星系的性质产生重大影响。伦敦大学学院的天文学小组领导着上述所有领域的研究项目。

Little more than 20 years ago we knew of no other planets than the ones in our own solar system. Today we have discovered thousands of so-called exoplanets orbiting other stars, including our nearest neighbour star. Which stars form planets and how does planet formation take place? Planets and stars ultimately form from interstellar material (gas) which has been enriched with heavier elements through the life-cycle of stars. How this enrichment occurs, through supernovae explosions and/or stellar winds, and how the star formation process itself occurs and the role of chemical reactions in the gas that forms stars, are therefore fundamental questions that needs to be addressed. The build-up of stellar populations and the role played by gas and dust and its chemistry are crucial pieces to the puzzle of how galaxies formed and evolved. In other words, how did the zoo of galaxies that we see today in the local Universe come about - starting from the first billion years after the big bang to today? How did star formation proceed in galaxies throughout cosmic time - which physical processes might have halted or slowed down star formation in galaxies, processes which would have had a significant impact on the properties of a galaxy at the present day. The Astronomy Group at UCL leads research projects in all of the above areas.