The origins and evolution of molecular clouds

宇宙中几乎每个比氦重的原子都是在一颗大质量恒星的核心形成的，恒星死亡后，这些元素被释放回星际介质(ISM)。一旦到了那里，恒星形成的过程就会将这些原子合并到下一代恒星和行星中。虽然恒星的生死是众所周知的，但气体是如何从一代恒星转移到下一代恒星的却知之甚少。这项拟议中的研究将揭开分子云的起源和演化，分子云承载着宇宙中所有当代恒星的形成。对这些巨大的云层进行了大量详细的观测，许多研究人员的目标是使用数值模拟来模拟它们的行为。通过在这些模拟和观测之间进行适当的比较，将获得广泛的洞察力。虽然过去已经进行过这样的比较，但详细和系统的方法使这个项目与众不同。通过对望远镜对数据获取的影响进行建模，我们将产生可以直接与真实观测进行比较的模拟观测。该项目将与研究云演化的研究人员合作，积累一组模拟观测数据。这些模拟观测将与詹姆斯·克拉克·麦克斯韦望远镜新的遗产调查以及研究人员存档的项目新获得的数据进行比较。该项目将使用新的方法对从其他科学领域改编的数据进行统计比较，以找到与观察组最匹配的模拟。通过确定最能模拟现实的模拟，并分离出导致这些模拟行为的关键物理成分，将有可能确定支配分子云进化的基本物理过程。对这些过程的洞察将为理解从大爆炸到现在的星系演化提供关键一环。

Nearly every atom in the Universe heavier than helium was forged in the core of a massive star, which upon its death, released those elements back into the interstellar medium (ISM). Once there, the process of star formation incorporates those atoms into the next generation of stars and planets. While the lives and deaths of stars are well understood, very little is known about how gas moves from one generation of stars into the next. The proposal research will unravel the origins and evolution of the molecular clouds, which host all contemporary star formation in the Universe. There are numerous, detailed observations of these massive clouds and many researchers aim to model their behavior using numerical simulations. Broad insight will be gained by making a well-posed comparison between these simulations and observations. While such comparisons have been made in the past, it is the detailed and systematic approach that sets this project apart. By modeling the effects of telescopes on the acquisition of data, we will produce simulated observations that can be compared directly to real observations. The project will amass a set of simulated observations in collaboration with researchers studying cloud evolution. These simulated observations will be compared to newly acquired data from the James Clark Maxwell Telescope's new Legacy Surveys as well as archived projects by the investigators. The project will use novel approaches for a statistical comparison of the data adapted from other scientific fields to find those simulations that best match sets of observations. By identifying the simulations that best mimic reality and isolating the key physical ingredients that are responsible for those simulations' behavior, it will be possible to identify the essential physical processes that govern molecular cloud evolution. Insight into these processes will provide a key link in understanding the evolution of galaxies from the Big Bang to the present.