Linked Contract Record

CLOUDY, A STARSHIP TO EXPLORE THE UNIVERSE THROUGH SPECTROSCOPY -ASTRONOMERS CANNOT TRAVEL TO DISTANT STARS AND GALAXIES, BUT THEY LEARN ABOUT THESE OBJECTS BY ANALYZING THE LIGHT THAT REACHES EARTH. SPECTRAL FINGERPRINTS ENCODED WITHIN THAT LIGHT REVEAL THE TEMPERATURES, CHEMICAL COMPOSITION, DENSITY, AND MOTIONS OF OBJECTS THROUGHOUT THE COSMOS. TURNING THESE OBSERVATIONS INTO SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERIES REQUIRES SOPHISTICATED COMPUTER MODELS THAT CONNECT THE OBSERVED LIGHT WITH THE PHYSICAL CONDITIONS THAT PRODUCED IT. THIS PROJECT WILL ADVANCE CLOUDY, AN OPEN-SOURCE COMPUTER PROGRAM USED IN HUNDREDS OF RIGOROUS SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS EACH YEAR TO INTERPRET THE LIGHT FROM STARS, GALAXIES, AND OTHER COSMIC OBJECTS. BY DECODING THESE SPECTRAL FINGERPRINTS, CLOUDY HELPS ASTRONOMERS UNDERSTAND HOW STARS ARE BORN, HOW GALAXIES EVOLVE, AND HOW THE ELEMENTS THAT MAKE PLANETS?AND ULTIMATELY LIFE ITSELF?ARE FORGED AND DISTRIBUTED THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE. THIS RESEARCH PROJECT WILL EXPAND CLOUDY?S ABILITY TO MODEL DYNAMIC, EXTREME, AND VIOLENT ASTROPHYSICAL ENVIRONMENTS, ENABLING ASTRONOMERS TO BETTER EXPLOIT OBSERVATIONS FROM LEADING TELESCOPES SUCH AS THE RUBIN OBSERVATORY, THE ATACAMA LARGE MILLIMETER/SUBMILLIMETER ARRAY, THE NSF VERY LARGE ARRAY, AND FUTURE EXTREMELY LARGE TELESCOPES. BECAUSE CLOUDY IS FREELY AVAILABLE, THIS ADVANCE WILL IMMEDIATELY BENEFIT ASTRONOMERS WORLDWIDE WHILE PROVIDING TRAINING AND RESOURCES FOR THE NEXT GENERATION OF RESEARCHERS. CLOUDY IS A COMPREHENSIVE AB INITIO SPECTRAL SYNTHESIS CODE THAT MODELS GAS AND DUST OVER THE FULL RANGE OF PHYSICAL CONDITIONS ENCOUNTERED IN ASTROPHYSICAL ENVIRONMENTS, FROM COLD MOLECULAR CLOUDS TO HOT, HIGHLY IONIZED PLASMAS. IT IS WIDELY USED TO INTERPRET SPECTROSCOPIC OBSERVATIONS OF ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI, STAR-FORMING REGIONS, SUPERNOVA REMNANTS, GALAXY CLUSTERS, AND THE INTERSTELLAR AND INTERGALACTIC MEDIA. THIS PROJECT WILL EXTEND CLOUDY?S CAPABILITIES IN FOUR MAJOR AREAS. THE TEAM WILL EXPAND ITS TREATMENT OF NON-EQUILIBRIUM CHEMISTRY AND TIME-DEPENDENT COOLING TO FOLLOW GAS FROM HOT PLASMAS TO TEMPERATURES APPROACHING THE COSMIC MICROWAVE BACKGROUND WHILE INCORPORATING THE THERMAL EFFECTS OF CHEMICAL REACTIONS. THEY WILL MODERNIZE GRAIN PHYSICS BY INTRODUCING CHARGE-DEPENDENT OPACITIES AND IMPROVED TREATMENTS OF DUST MICROPHYSICS. BUILDING ON THESE ADVANCES, THEY WILL INTEGRATE RADIATIVE SHOCK PHYSICS INTO CLOUDY, MAKING IT ONLY THE SECOND COMPREHENSIVE ASTROPHYSICAL SHOCK CODE AVAILABLE TO THE COMMUNITY. FINALLY, THEY WILL STRENGTHEN CLOUDY?S LONG-TERM SUSTAINABILITY BY TRAINING A NEW GENERATION OF DEVELOPERS WHILE CONTINUING ITS OPEN-SOURCE DEVELOPMENT, EXTENSIVE VALIDATION, AND REGULAR PUBLIC RELEASES. THESE ADVANCES WILL ENABLE MORE ACCURATE INTERPRETATION OF ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA BY PROVIDING THE ASTRONOMICAL COMMUNITY WITH AN IMPROVED, OPENLY AVAILABLE TOOL FOR QUANTITATIVE SPECTROSCOPY. 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.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.