Collaborative Research: Investigating the nature of dark matter with gravitational lensing

合作研究：利用引力透镜研究暗物质的性质

• 批准号: 1715611
• 负责人: Christopher Fassnacht
• 金额: $ 42.22万
• 依托单位: University of California-Davis
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-09-01 至 2022-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1715611&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Investigating; nature; dark

Understanding the nature of dark matter is one of the most pressing issues in all of modern astrophysics. This mysterious substance makes up the vast majority of the material in galaxies, including our own Milky Way Galaxy, but does not appear in any images taken of these objects. Furthermore, dark matter is one of the two major components, along with dark energy, that make up the Universe. While the properties of dark matter are not well known, relatively simple models of it have done a remarkable job of reproducing the distribution of galaxies in the Universe. However, when looking on smaller scales, the models predict that thousands of small galaxies should orbit galaxies such as the Milky Way, while careful observations of the Milky Way have detected fewer than 50 satellite galaxies. The primary goal of this project is to build up and analyze a large enough sample of rare gravitational lens systems to distinguish between different models of dark matter and, thus, to further our knowledge about one of the most important components of the Universe. The excitement of this program will be shared with the public, with a special emphasis on introducing young people to the scientific method and to the techniques of cutting-edge astrophysics research. This will be accomplished through specialized summer programs for high-school students, introductory-level college classes in astronomy and sustainable energy, and research projects for undergraduates.The fundamental question underlying this project is "what is the nature of dark matter?". We now know that dark matter is a major component of the mass energy of the Universe, second only to dark energy, and completely dominates the mass of galaxies and galaxy clusters. However, the properties of the dark matter particle are not well quantified with efforts to measure these properties proceeding both in astrophysics and physics. The proposed research utilizes four steps to better understand dark matter: (1) building better statistics by applying our gravitational imaging and flux-ratio anomaly techniques to new samples that will provide a significant increase over our current numbers, (2) significantly improving the power of the lensing approach to disentangle cold and warm dark matter by pushing orders of magnitude down the mass function of substructures, (3) develop techniques to reduce systematic errors that are now known to have affected earlier dark matter analyses, and (4) do at least two independent measurements of the substructure mass function in distant galaxies and analyze the results in the context of alternative dark matter models.

了解暗物质的本质是所有现代天体物理学中最紧迫的问题之一。 这种神秘的物质构成了星系中的绝大多数材料，包括我们自己的银河系，但没有出现在这些物体拍摄的任何图像中。 此外，暗物质是构成宇宙的两个主要组成部分之一。 尽管暗物质的特性尚不清楚，但相对简单的模型在重现宇宙中星系的分布方面做得非常出色。 但是，当观察较小的尺度时，模型预测，成千上万的小星系应该轨道星系，例如银河系，而对银河系的仔细观察则检测到少于50个卫星星系。 该项目的主要目标是建立和分析足够多的稀有引力透镜系统样本，以区分不同的暗物质模型，从而进一步进一步了解我们对宇宙最重要的组成部分之一的了解。 该计划的兴奋将与公众分享，特别强调将年轻人介绍科学方法和尖端天体物理学研究的技术。 这将通过针对高中生的专业夏季计划，天文学和可持续能源的入门级别的大学课程以及本科生的研究项目来完成。该项目的基本问题是“暗物质的本质是什么？”。 我们现在知道，暗物质是宇宙质量能量的主要组成部分，仅次于暗能量，并且完全占据了星系和星系簇的质量。 但是，通过努力测量在天体物理学和物理学中进行这些特性的努力，暗物质粒子的特性并未得到很好的量化。 拟议的研究利用四个步骤更好地理解暗物质：（1）通过将我们的重力成像和磁通率异常技术应用于新样品，将提供更好的统计数据，这些技术将为当前数字提供显着增加，（2）显着提高镜头方法的范围，以提高镜头寒冷和温暖的速度，从而降低质量的变化，从而降低质量的变化，从而降低质量的质量，以降低质量的质量（3）（3）（3）（3）（3）（3）（3）（3）已经影响了较早的暗物质分析，（4）在遥远的星系中至少进行了两个独立的测量值，并在替代暗物质模型的背景下分析结果。

项目成果

ALMA view of RX J1131-1231: Sub-kpc CO (2-1) mapping of a molecular disk in a lensed star-forming quasar host galaxy

RX J1131-1231 的 ALMA 视图：透镜状恒星形成类星体宿主星系中分子盘的亚 kpc CO (2-1) 映射

• DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/201731250
• 发表时间: 2018
• 期刊: Astronomy & Astrophysics
• 影响因子: 6.5
• 作者: Paraficz, D.;Rybak, M.;McKean, J. P.;Vegetti, S.;Sluse, D.;Courbin, F.;Stacey, H. R.;Suyu, S. H.;Dessauges-Zavadsky, M.;Fassnacht, C. D.
• 通讯作者: Fassnacht, C. D.

High-resolution imaging follow-up of doubly imaged quasars

双成像类星体的高分辨率成像跟踪

• DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stab532
• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
• 影响因子: 4.8
• 作者: Shajib, Anowar J;Molina, Eden;Agnello, Adriano;Williams, Peter R;Birrer, Simon;Treu, Tommaso;Fassnacht, Christopher D;Morishita, Takahiro;Abramson, Louis;Schechter, Paul L
• 通讯作者: Schechter, Paul L

Flux-ratio anomalies from discs and other baryonic structures in the Illustris simulation

• DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stx3320
• 发表时间: 2017-07
• 期刊: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
• 影响因子: 4.8
• 作者: J. Hsueh;G. Despali;S. Vegetti;Dandan Xu;C. Fassnacht;R. C. D. Physics;U. California;Davis

SHARP – VII. New constraints on the dark matter free-streaming properties and substructure abundance from gravitationally lensed quasars

• DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stz3177
• 发表时间: 2019-05
• 期刊: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
• 影响因子: 4.8
• 作者: J. Hsueh;Wolfgang Enzi;S. Vegetti;M. Auger;C. Fassnacht;G. Despali;L. Koopmans;J. McKean

SHARP – VI. Evidence for CO (1–0) molecular gas extended on kpc-scales in AGN star-forming galaxies at high redshift

• DOI: 10.1093/mnras/staa1342
• 发表时间: 2019-05
• 期刊: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
• 影响因子: 4.8
• 作者: C. Spingola;C. Spingola;J. McKean;J. McKean;S. Vegetti;D. Powell;M. Auger;L. Koopmans;C. Fassnac