The Role of Gas in the Evolution of Galaxies

气体在星系演化中的作用

• 批准号: 1412419
• 负责人: Alberto Bolatto
• 金额: $ 50万
• 依托单位: University of Maryland, College Park
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-09-01 至 2018-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1412419&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Role; Gas; Evolution; Galaxies

One of the principal unsolved problems in modern astrophysics is the formation and evolution of galaxies. Astronomers wish to understand when galaxies first develop, as well as how star formation evolves over the history of the universe. The ultimate goal of this proposal is to develop a physical understanding, informed by observations of galaxies in the nearby and distant universe, of some of the main processes that shape galaxies.The Principal Investigator and collaborators will use new observations, including those with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the Plateau de Bure Interferometer (PdBI), to study a number of topics that are required to improve our understanding of galaxy evolution. In a multi-pronged strategy, the team will study the evolution of gas fractions and depletion time scales in main sequence galaxies during cosmic time, the mass dependence of gas fractions, the dominant feedback and quenching mechanisms in field galaxies, the physics of galaxy outflows, and the physical conditions in molecular clouds in low metallicity and starburst galaxies. This research will lead to a greatly improved understanding of galaxy evolution, with ALMA observations forming a central component of the research.The PI will also work with the Graduate Resources Advancing Diversity with Maryland Astronomy and Physics initiative (GRAD-MAP), which is a program designed to lessen the barriers faced by minorities to enter astronomy and physics graduate school. Finally, the PI will continue the development of the Astronomy Workshop Extragalactic (AWE) website, which provides a suite of online demonstrations of astronomical concepts.

现代天体物理学中未解决的主要问题之一是星系的形成和演化。天文学家希望了解星系何时首次形成，以及恒星形成在宇宙历史中如何演变。该提案的最终目标是通过对附近和遥远宇宙中星系的观测，对形成星系的一些主要过程形成物理理解。首席研究员和合作者将使用新的观测结果，包括阿塔卡马的观测结果大型毫米/亚毫米阵列（ALMA）和布雷高原干涉仪（PdBI），用于研究增进我们对星系演化的理解所需的许多主题。在多管齐下的策略中，该团队将研究宇宙时间期间主序星系中气体组分和耗尽时间尺度的演化、气体组分的质量依赖性、场星系中的主导反馈和淬灭机制、星系流出的物理学，以及低金属丰度和星暴星系中分子云的物理条件。这项研究将大大提高对星系演化的理解，ALMA 观测构成了该研究的核心组成部分。PI 还将与马里兰天文学和物理学研究生资源促进多样性计划 (GRAD-MAP) 合作，该计划是一个旨在减少少数族裔进入天文学和物理学研究生院所面临的障碍的计划。最后，PI 将继续开发河外天文学研讨会 (AWE) 网站，该网站提供一套天文概念的在线演示。