Queen's University Belfast Astronomy Observation and Theory Consolidated Grant 2017-2020

贝尔法斯特女王大学天文学观测与理论综合补助金 2017-2020

基本信息

批准号：
ST/P000312/1
负责人：
Stephen Smartt
金额：
$ 302.17万
依托单位：
Queen's University Belfast
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Research Grant
财政年份：
2017
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2017 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ST%2FP000312%2F1
关键词：
Queen University Belfast Astronomy Observation

项目摘要

Supernovae create the heavy chemical elements we see in our solar system, the Galaxy and entire visible Universe. While stars evolve over millions or billions of years, a supernova explosion happens in seconds and the glowing remnant lasts for years. We aim to understand how these explosions happen and how they create the neutron stars, pulsars and black holes in our galaxy. The cores of massive stars collapse at the end of their nuclear burning life and the gravitational potential energy released drives an explosion through the interaction of neutrinos with the dense inner region of the star. How the most massive stars explode, and if a black hole is formed, is uncertain and there is a huge diversity in the energy observed in the known supernova population. Our proposed work will address these questions along with trying to find the sources that may create gravitational waves in the Universe. The most likely sources are merging neutron stars or black holes and it is expected that gravitational waves will finally be found. The question will then turn to finding the sources. The thermonuclear supernovae that are used as cosmic yardsticks and led to the Nobel Prize winning discovery of dark energy come from white dwarf stars. But how they explode and what the progenitor systems are still eludes us. Competing models of two merging white dwarfs, or single white dwarfs with a normal stellar companion are still feasible. Most likely there are several ways to explode a white dwarf - a star greater than the mass of the sun, but the size of the earth. We are in an excellent position to make advances in these areas with our theoretical computer codes and world leading sky survey data. The elements created in supernovae form planetary systems in our galaxy - iron, silicon, oxygen, magnesium are all critical to forming planetary systems. The diversity in the known planetary systems around other stars in our galaxy (called exoplanets) is astounding. We know of thousands of exoplanets, with massive hot jupiters, multiple planetary systems and super-earths now commonly found. We can see planet formation in the disks of young stars during their first few million years of life. The latest large facility built in the southern hemisphere (ALMA), has provided spectacular data on proto-planetary disks and our work on the chemistry of the disk aims to understand their origins. Our work will probe the atmospheres of these distant worlds by carefully extracting the light that passes from the parent star through the atmosphere of the planet. We can also measure the ages of stars to set constraints on how planetary systems evolve with time and what the constraints for life bearing planets may be. The top priority in this area is to find another earth like planet - the right size, age and distance from its parent star to support an atmosphere and liquid water. This search requires careful consideration and tests of the methods to extract the tiny signals we expect and we propose to develop this with an eye on the future prize of detecting an earth twin. A critical part of astrophysics is pulling together our detailed knowledge of physics that we can measure on earth to what we can only see (through electromagnetic radiation) in the distant Universe. This will be done through computer calculations of model atoms. These codes calculate how electrons are excited in atoms and ensures that astrophysics codes identify the elements that cause the spectral lines and features we see in supernovae, supermassive black holes, galaxy spectra and stars. Finally, we propose to run a novel experiment to use the UK's most powerful laser (the VULCAN facility) to mimic the physics of gas at the centre of a galaxy. The laser can produce a large enough x-ray flux that the conditions are equivalent and we, for the first time, can test the world's leading computer code that is used to model the central regions of galaxies close to their black holes.

超新星创建了我们在太阳系，星系和整个可见宇宙中看到的重型化学元素。尽管星星发展了数百万或数十亿年，但超新星爆炸发生了几秒钟，而发光的残余持续了多年。我们的目标是了解这些爆炸是如何发生的，以及它们如何在我们的银河系中创建中子恒星，脉冲星和黑洞。巨大恒星的核心在其核燃烧生命结束时倒塌，引力势能释放出来，通过中微子与恒星密集的内部区域的相互作用驱动了爆炸。最大的恒星如何爆炸，如果形成黑洞，则不确定，并且在已知的超新星种群中观察到的能量有着巨大的多样性。我们提出的工作将解决这些问题，并试图找到可能在宇宙中产生引力波的来源。最有可能的来源是合并中子星或黑洞，预计最终会发现重力波。然后，问题将转向寻找资源。被用作宇宙码的热核超新星，并导致诺贝尔奖获得了黑矮星的奖。但是，它们如何爆炸以及祖细胞系统的爆炸仍然使我们感到困惑。两个合并白矮人或具有正常恒星伴侣的单一白矮人的竞争模型仍然可行。最有可能有几种爆炸的方法可以爆炸白色矮人 - 一颗比太阳质量大，但大小的恒星。通过我们的理论计算机代码和世界领先的天空调查数据，我们处于极好的位置，可以在这些领域取得进步。用超新星形成的元素形成了我们的星系中的行星系统 - 铁，硅，氧，镁，对于形成行星系统至关重要。我们银河系中其他恒星周围已知的行星系统的多样性令人震惊。我们知道成千上万的系外行星，现在通常发现了大量的热木星，多个行星系统和超级地球。我们可以在年轻恒星的头几百万年生命中看到星球在年轻恒星的磁盘中形成。在南半球（ALMA）建造的最新大型设施，提供了有关原始磁盘的壮观数据，以及我们在磁盘化学方面的工作旨在了解其起源。我们的工作将通过仔细地提取从母星穿过地球的气氛的光线来探讨这些遥远世界的气氛。我们还可以衡量恒星的年龄，以对行星系统如何随着时间的流逝以及生命轴承行星的约束可能是什么来设定限制。该区域的首要任务是找到另一个像行星这样的地球 - 距离其母星的尺寸，年龄和距离，以支持大气和液态水。该搜索需要仔细考虑和测试方法，以提取我们期望的微小信号，我们建议您开发此过程，以期待检测地球双胞胎的未来奖项。天体物理学的关键部分是将我们对物理学的详细知识汇总在一起，我们可以在地球上测量到遥远宇宙中只能看到（通过电磁辐射）。这将通过模型原子的计算机计算来完成。这些代码计算了电子在原子中的激发方式，并确保天体物理代码确定引起光谱线和特征的元素，我们在超新星，超大型黑洞，星系光谱和星星中看到的元素。最后，我们建议运行一项新颖的实验，以使用英国最强大的激光（瓦肯设施）来模仿银河系中心的气体物理。激光可以产生足够大的X射线通量，以使条件等效，我们首次可以测试世界领先的计算机代码，该计算机代码用于建模靠近其黑洞的星系中心区域。

项目成果

期刊论文数量（10）

专著数量（0）

科研奖励数量（0）

会议论文数量（0）

专利数量（0）

NGTS-21b: An Inflated Super-Jupiter Orbiting a Metal-poor K dwarf

DOI：
10.1093/mnras/stac2884
发表时间：
2022-10
期刊：
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
影响因子：
4.8
作者：
D. Alves;J. Jenkins;J. Vines;L. Nielsen;S. Gill;J. Acton;D. Anderson;D. Bayliss;F. Bouchy-F.-Bouch
通讯作者：
D. Alves;J. Jenkins;J. Vines;L. Nielsen;S. Gill;J. Acton;D. Anderson;D. Bayliss;F. Bouchy-F.-Bouch

Radiative Rates and Electron Impact Excitation Rates for Transitions in He II

He II 跃迁的辐射率和电子碰撞激发率