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：
2209578
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：
2022
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2022-08-01 至 2025-07-31
项目状态：
未结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2209578&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 the conditions of extreme temperature and density found in the cosmos. This research will seek to use 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, for example, the heaviest elements in the fiery interiors of collapsing stars or colliding neutron stars, and the lightest in the first seconds in the history of the universe. In turn, these considerations could yield clues about new physics, clues that may complement insights gleaned from terrestrial experiments. 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 and atomic nuclei in the extreme environments of 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 these particles to change their flavors (e.g., electron type neutrinos changing to tau type and vice versa). This can be a fiercely nonlinear problem because the flavor content of the neutrino component in part determines how neutrino flavors change! Research in this project will target (1) Understanding and modeling nonlinear neutrino flavor evolution and assessing the impact of this process on compact objects (collapsing stellar cores; merging binary neutron stars) dynamics and nucleosynthesis; (2) Using the insights from these and other considerations to turn our models of, and observational constraints on compact object environments and the early universe into insights into beyond standard model physics, dark matter, 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在宇宙中极端温度和密度的条件下原子核和基本颗粒和辐射如何行为的见解。这项研究将寻求使用这些见解来提供有关基本颗粒本质，尤其是神秘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，在倒塌的星星或碰撞的中子恒星的火热内部以及在Universe历史上最轻的元素中最重的元素。反过来，这些考虑因素可能会产生有关新物理学的线索，这些线索可能补充了从地面实验中收集的见解。在本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）磨练成能够在宇宙极端环境中建模中微子和原子核行为的工具。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这些粒子改变其口味（例如，电子类型中微子将其更改为tau类型，反之亦然）。这可能是一个强烈的非线性问题，因为中微子成分的风味含量部分决定了中微子的风味如何变化！该项目的研究将针对（1）理解和建模非线性中微子风味演化，并评估该过程对紧凑物体（崩溃的恒星核心；合并二进制中子星）的影响）动力学和核合成；（2）利用这些和其他考虑因素的见解来改变我们的模型，以及对紧凑的对象环境和早期宇宙的观察限制，使其成为超越标准模型物理，暗物质和暗部门物理学的洞察力； (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。