Apples to Apples: Comparing the Cores of Nearby Galaxies

苹果对苹果：比较附近星系的核心

• 批准号: 1813765
• 负责人: Elisabeth Mills
• 金额: $ 17.57万
• 依托单位: Trustees of Boston University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-07-01 至 2021-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1813765&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Apples; Comparing; Cores; Nearby; Galaxies

The centers of galaxies are home to unique interactions between stars, gas, and black holes. Such interactions are responsible for forming new stars, growing a galaxy's central supermassive black hole, and driving energetic outflows. However, the detailed physics behind them is still poorly understood. Though nearby and easily studied, the Milky Way's center is relatively quiet. Few stars are forming in this region, and the black hole is not active. Because of this, the Milky Way is not a representative example of the full suite of processes that occur in these environments. This project will make the first comparison of gas properties in the Milky Way center with those in a more active galaxy. This work will lead to advances in our understanding of how the physics of the gas in galaxy centers is linked to inflow and outflow processes. In addition, this work will support a partnership with a prison education program to develop and teach math-intensive astronomy courses that will prepare incarcerated students to be part of a STEM-literate workforce. A key area of investigation, and a priority identified in the 2010 Decadal Survey, is what goes on in galaxy centers: the interactions between stars, black holes and gas. Until recently there has only been one galaxy where these interactions can be investigated in detail: The Milky Way, an inactive and relatively sedate galaxy. Now however, the capabilities offered by the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) make it possible to conduct detailed comparisons of gas properties and interactions in the Milky Way center with those in other galaxy centers. Using new radio and millimeter observations of the Milky Way's Galactic center, this project will first make detailed studies of gas properties to constrain how accretion itself modifies gas conditions, and not just feedback from processes it drives (e.g., starbursts which are absent in the Galactic center). By relating the gas properties on sub-parsec scales determined by this study (scales that can only be probed in our own Galaxy center) to the properties on the parsec and larger scales, this work will test how well global properties probed in other galaxies represent the true properties on smaller scales. Ultimately, this project will directly compare the properties on parsec scales with new ALMA observations of the nearest starburst galaxy on identical parsec scales. Their work is the first 'apples to apples' comparison of detailed gas properties in galaxy nuclei: probing how interstellar medium properties change in the presence of a starburst, and advancing the understanding of our Galaxy center beyond a single case study. Finally, this program will produce a library of templates for the extreme gas properties in these nuclei that can be used to interpret conditions in distant, high redshift galaxies.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

星系中心是恒星、气体和黑洞之间独特相互作用的所在地。这种相互作用导致新恒星的形成、星系中央超大质量黑洞的生长以及能量的外流。然而，它们背后的详细物理原理仍然知之甚少。虽然银河系中心距离很近且易于研究，但它却相对安静。该区域很少有恒星形成，黑洞也不活跃。因此，银河系并不是这些环境中发生的全套过程的代表性示例。该项目将首次对银河系中心的气体特性与更活跃的星系中的气体特性进行比较。这项工作将促进我们对星系中心气体物理现象如何与流入和流出过程联系起来的理解。此外，这项工作还将支持与监狱教育计划的合作，开发和教授数学密集型天文学课程，帮助被监禁的学生成为具有 STEM 素养的劳动力队伍的一部分。 2010 年十年调查确定的一个关键研究领域和优先事项是星系中心发生的事情：恒星、黑洞和气体之间的相互作用。直到最近，只有一个星系可以详细研究这些相互作用：银河系，一个不活跃且相对平静的星系。然而现在，阿塔卡马大型毫米波阵列（ALMA）提供的功能使得对银河系中心与其他星系中心的气体特性和相互作用进行详细比较成为可能。利用对银河系中心的新无线电和毫米波观测，该项目将首先对气体特性进行详细研究，以限制吸积本身如何改变气体条件，而不仅仅是来自其驱动过程的反馈（例如，银河系中不存在的星暴）中心）。通过将本研究确定的亚秒差距尺度上的气体特性（只能在我们自己的星系中心探测到的尺度）与秒差距和更大尺度上的特性联系起来，这项工作将测试在其他星系中探测到的全局特性的表现如何较小尺度上的真实属性。最终，该项目将直接将秒差距尺度上的特性与相同秒差距尺度上最近的星暴星系的新 ALMA 观测结果进行比较。他们的工作是对星系核中详细气体特性的首次“同类”比较：探讨星际介质特性在星暴存在时如何变化，并在单一案例研究之外增进对我们银河中心的理解。最后，该计划将为这些原子核中的极端气体特性生成一个模板库，可用于解释遥远的高红移星系中的条件。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的评估进行评估，被认为值得支持。智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

项目成果

The Dense Gas Fraction in Galactic Center Clouds

银河系中心云中的致密气体部分

• DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/aae581
• 发表时间: 2018-09-29
• 期刊: The Astrophysical Journal
• 作者: E. Mills;A. Ginsburg;K. Immer;J. Barnes;L. Wiesenfeld;A. Faure;M. Morris;M. Requena
• 通讯作者: M. Requena

‘The Brick’ is not a brick : a comprehensive study of the structure and dynamics of the central molecular zone cloud G0.253+0.016

➡砖不是砖：中心分子区云的结构和动力学的综合研究 G0.253 0.016

• DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stz471
• 发表时间: 2019-02
• 期刊: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
• 影响因子: 4.8
• 作者: Henshaw, J D;Ginsburg, A;Haworth, T J;Longmore, S N;Kruijssen, J M;Mills, E A;Sokolov, V;Walker, D L;Barnes, A T;Contreras, Y;et al
• 通讯作者: et al

Forming Super Star Clusters in the Central Starburst of NGC 253

NGC 253 中央星暴中形成超级星团

• DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/aaecd1
• 发表时间: 2018-12
• 期刊: The Astrophysical Journal
• 作者: Leroy, Adam K.;Bolatto, Alberto D.;Ostriker, Eve C.;Walter, Fabian;Gorski, Mark;Ginsburg, Adam;Krieger, Nico;Levy, Rebecca C.;Meier, David S.;Mills, Elisabeth;et al
• 通讯作者: et al

A Centimeter-wave Study of Methanol and Ammonia Isotopologues in Sgr B2(N): Physical and Chemical Differentiation between Two Hot Cores

Sgr B2(N)中甲醇和氨同位素体的厘米波研究：两个热核之间的物理和化学差异

• DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/aaed3f
• 发表时间: 2018-10-30
• 期刊: The Astrophysical Journal
• 作者: E. Mills;J. Corby;A. R. Clements;N. Butterfield;P. Jones;M. Cunningham;J. Ott
• 通讯作者: J. Ott

The dynamical evolution of molecular clouds near the Galactic Centre – II. Spatial structure and kinematics of simulated clouds

银河中心附近分子云的动态演化-II。

• DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stz381
• 发表时间: 2019-02-05
• 期刊: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
• 影响因子: 4.8
• 作者: J. Kruijssen;J. Dale;S. Longmore;D. Walker;J. Henshaw;S. Jeffreson;M. Petkova;A. Ginsburg
• 通讯作者: A. Ginsburg