The origins and evolution of molecular clouds

宇宙中几乎每一个比氦重的原子都是在大质量恒星的核心形成的，在恒星死亡时，这些元素被释放回星际介质（ISM）。一旦到达那里，恒星形成的过程就会将这些原子融入下一代恒星和行星中。虽然我们对恒星的生与死已经有了很好的了解，但我们对气体如何从一代恒星转移到下一代恒星却知之甚少。这项提案研究将揭开分子云的起源和演化，它承载了宇宙中所有当代恒星的形成。人们对这些巨大的云进行了大量详细的观察，许多研究人员的目标是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，将获得广泛的见解。虽然过去已经进行了这样的比较，但使该项目与众不同的是详细和系统的方法。通过模拟望远镜对数据获取的影响，我们将产生可以直接与真实观测进行比较的模拟观测结果。该项目将与研究云演化的研究人员合作，收集一组模拟观测数据。这些模拟的观测结果将与詹姆斯·克拉克·麦克斯韦望远镜新遗留调查获得的新数据以及研究人员存档的项目进行比较。该项目将采用新的方法对其他科学领域的数据进行统计比较，以找到最符合观测结果的模拟。通过确定最能模拟现实的模拟，并分离出对这些模拟行为负责的关键物理成分，将有可能确定控制分子云进化的基本物理过程。对这些过程的深入了解将为理解从大爆炸到现在的星系演化提供一个关键环节。

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.