Hawking - How massive are debris discs? Weighing a fundamental component of planetary systems

霍金 - 碎片盘有多大？

• 批准号: EP/Y000218/1
• 金额: $ 50.63万
• 依托单位: University of Warwick
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2024 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FY000218%2F1
• 关键词: Hawking; How; massive; debris; discs; Hawking; How; massive; debris; discs

Our Solar System contains lots of 'debris', which refers to any solid object smaller than a planet: asteroids, comets, dust and dwarf planets (like Pluto) are all debris. Much of the debris in the Solar System is concentrated in the Asteroid and Kuiper Belts, which are more generally referred to as 'debris discs'. Such discs contain debris with a huge range of sizes, from tiny dust grains all the way up to asteroids and dwarf planets. Surprisingly, we can see debris discs around other stars too; modern instruments can see the dust in extrasolar debris discs, although the larger bodies (asteroids and dwarf planets) cannot be detected with current technology. This leads to a problem: we do not know how massive debris discs are, because their masses are dominated by the unseen large bodies. These debris discs look very different to our own Asteroid and Kuiper Belts, and establishing their masses would really help us to understand how planetary systems form, how they evolve, where exoplanets orbit, and how typical (or unusual) our Solar System is.My proposed research combines brand new dynamical theory with cutting-edge data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), to measure debris-disc masses for the first time. This is done by considering the interactions that occur when an exoplanet orbits close to a debris disc. These interactions affect both the disc shape and the exoplanet orbit, and depend on the debris-disc mass; I would use these interactions to measure debris-disc masses directly. This new method has the advantage that, unlike previous techniques, it does not require a lot of assumptions about unknown quantities. Specifically, I identify two types of known debris disc that are particularly susceptible to having their masses measured in this way: first, discs that are both narrow and elliptical in shape, and second, discs that are both wide and contain a gap. I am a member of several JWST programmes, which will look for exoplanets near these discs before the fellowship starts; as a fellow I would then measure the debris-disc masses by combining these observations with new dynamical theory. These masses would then be used to determine the sizes of the largest debris bodies (asteroids or dwarf planets) that lie within the discs; finally, these debris sizes would be used to test key aspects of debris theory and system-formation models.In parallel to my scientific research, I also plan a large public-engagement programme to raise awareness of how vital mathematics is to almost all products and services that people rely on today. Without maths we could not design aeroplanes, build mobile phones, perform medical scans or understand the universe, but to many people maths can be boring, annoying or even scary. My aim is to show to young people that mathematics has many fascinating applications beyond what most people experience in their everyday lives; for example, try building a city or launching a rocket to Mars without maths. I propose to build fun, interactive computer software that demonstrates the diverse and exciting applications of mathematics to primary school pupils, to foster an early understanding that maths has enormous potential beyond people's day-to-day experiences. The aim is not to teach maths, but to provide a supplementary tool for teachers to show the amazing things that maths can tackle, to help demonstrate why maths is important and worth learning. Ultimately, it could even inspire the next generation of STEM students.

我们的太阳系包含许多“碎屑”，它指的是小于行星的任何固体物体：小行星，彗星，尘埃和矮人行星（如冥王星）都是碎屑。太阳系中的许多碎屑集中在小行星和库珀带，这些碎屑通常称为“碎屑盘”。这样的圆盘包含碎屑，尺寸范围很大，从微小的灰尘谷物一直到小行星和矮人行星。令人惊讶的是，我们也可以看到其他恒星周围的碎屑盘。现代仪器可以看到极性碎屑盘中的灰尘，尽管无法用当前技术检测到较大的身体（小行星和矮人行星）。这导致了一个问题：我们不知道圆盘的巨大碎屑是多么大，因为它们的质量是由看不见的大物体主导的。这些碎屑盘看起来与我们自己的小行星和库珀腰带截然不同，建立质量将有助于我们真正了解行星系统的形成，它们的发展方式，外部球星轨道的何处，以及我们所提出的研究的典型（或与众不同）的典型（或与众不同）。这是通过考虑系外行星轨道接近碎屑盘时发生的相互作用来完成的。这些相互作用既影响圆盘形状和系外行驶轨道，并且取决于碎屑质量。我将使用这些相互作用直接测量碎屑块。这种新方法的优点是，与以前的技术不同，它不需要关于未知数量的很多假设。具体而言，我确定了两种已知碎屑盘，它们特别容易以这种方式测量其质量：首先，圆盘既狭窄又椭圆形，其次是宽阔的圆盘，它们均宽且含有间隙。我是几个JWST计划的成员，该计划将在奖学金开始之前在这些光盘附近寻找系外行星；然后，我将通过将这些观察结果与新的动力学理论相结合来衡量碎屑 - 圆盘质量。然后，这些肿块将用于确定位于圆盘内的最大碎屑体（小行星或矮人行星）的大小；最后，这些碎片尺寸将用于测试碎片理论和系统形成模型的关键方面。与我的科学研究的同时，我还计划了一项大型公开参与计划，以提高人们对当今人们依赖的所有产品和服务的所有产品和服务的认识。没有数学，我们将无法设计飞机，制造手机，进行医学扫描或了解宇宙，但是对于许多人来说，数学可能会很无聊，烦人甚至可怕。我的目的是向年轻人表明，数学在大多数人的日常生活中都具有许多有趣的应用。例如，尝试建造城市或在没有数学的情况下向火星发射火箭。我建议建立有趣的交互式计算机软件，以展示数学对小学学生的多样化和令人兴奋的应用，以促进早期的了解，即数学超出人们的日常体验，具有巨大的潜力。目的不是教数学，而是为教师提供一种补充工具，以展示数学可以解决的惊人事情，以帮助证明数学为何重要且值得学习。最终，它甚至可以激发下一代STEM学生。