Nuclear, Particle, and Weak Interaction Physics of the Big Bang and Stellar Collapse

大爆炸和恒星塌缩的核、粒子和弱相互作用物理学

基本信息

批准号：
1914242
负责人：
George Fuller
金额：
$ 33万
依托单位：
University of California-San Diego
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Standard Grant
财政年份：
2019
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2019-08-01 至 2023-07-31
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1914242&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
Nuclear Particle Weak Interaction Physics

项目摘要

The research supported in this project will provide insights into how atomic nuclei and elementary particles and radiation behave in extreme conditions of temperature and density. The PI will leverage these insights to provide important clues about the nature of elementary particles, the mysterious neutrinos in particular, and about how the elements are synthesized in nature, e.g., the heaviest elements in the fiery interiors of collapsing stars or colliding neutron stars, and the lightest in the first seconds in the early universe. In turn, these considerations can give us insight into new physics. The calculations to be done in this project will involve honing humanity's fundamental theory of nature, i.e., Quantum Mechanics, into a tool capable of modeling the behavior of neutrinos in the extreme environments provided by the cosmos. Another key product of this Project will be the training of young nuclear physicists, at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. The research supported in this Project will be directed toward probing the fundamental physics of neutrinos and nuclei by exploiting the intersection of exciting new developments in nuclear physics and neutrino physics on the one hand, with the explosion of new data and insights from the advent of multi-messenger astronomy and precision cosmology on the other. A key issue in this enterprise will be studying how neutrinos interact in dense matter and how these interactions may cause neutrinos to change their flavors (e.g., electron type neutrinos changing to tau type and vice versa). This is a fiercely nonlinear problem because neutrino flavor/spin determines how neutrinos interact, and how they interact determines how flavors/spin change. To these ends, the P.I. and his graduate and undergraduate students will work toward: (1) Understanding and modeling the quantum kinetic equations which govern neutrino flavor and spin evolution in a general medium; (2) Constructing large-scale numerical simulations of neutrino flavor/spin evolution in the early universe and compact object environments and assessing the feedback of this neutrino flavor physics on the prospects for the synthesis of nuclei in these sites, and the implications of this physics for multi-messenger observations and dark sector physics; (3) Understanding nuclear structure, neutrino-nucleus interactions, nuclear partition functions, and nuclear weak strength distributions in high temperature environments.This project advances the objectives of "Windows on the Universe: the Era of Multi-Messenger Astrophysics", one of the 10 Big Ideas for Future NSF Investments.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.

该项目支持的研究将提供有关原子核和基本颗粒和辐射在温度和密度极端条件下的行为的见解。 PI将利用这些见解来提供有关基本颗粒本质，尤其是神秘的中微子的性质的重要线索，以及在自然界中如何合成元素，例如，倒塌恒星或碰撞中子星的火热内部最重的元素，以及早期宇宙中最轻的元素。反过来，这些考虑可以使我们深入了解新物理学。在该项目中要完成的计算将涉及将人类的基本自然理论（即量子力学理论）磨练成能够建模中微子在宇宙提供的极端环境中的行为的工具。该项目的另一个关键产品将是在研究生和本科水平上对年轻核物理学家的培训。该项目中支持的研究将用于探测中微子和核的基本物理，一方面利用令人兴奋的核物理和中微子物理学的令人兴奋的新发展的相交，并爆炸了新数据和洞察力，并从另一方面的Multi-Messenger Astronomy和Precision Cosomology的出现中爆炸。该企业中的一个关键问题将是研究中微子如何在密集的物质中相互作用，以及这些相互作用如何导致中微子改变其口味（例如，电子类型中微子将其更改为TAU类型，反之亦然）。这是一个强烈的非线性问题，因为中微子风味/自旋决定了中微子的相互作用以及它们如何相互作用决定了风味/自旋的变化。对这些目的，P.I.他的毕业生和本科生将致力于：（1）理解和建模量子动力学方程，这些方程控制了一般培养基中中微子风味和自旋进化；（2）在早期宇宙中构建中微子风味/自旋进化的大规模数值模拟，并构建紧凑的对象环境，并评估这种中微子风味物理学的反馈，这些物理学对这些位点合成核的前景的前景，以及这种物理学对多膜观测和黑暗扇形物理学的含义； (3) Understanding nuclear structure, neutrino-nucleus interactions, nuclear partition functions, and nuclear weak strength distributions in high temperature environments.This project advances the objectives of "Windows on the Universe: the Era of Multi-Messenger Astrophysics", one of the 10 Big Ideas for Future NSF Investments.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审查标准。