NSF East Asia and Pacific Summer Institute (EAPSI) for FY 2013 in Korea

Chang Hui-Yiing, Nashville TN

Investigators

Abstract

This action funds Hui-Yiing Chang of Vanderbilt University to conduct a research project in MPS during the summer of 2013 at Korea Astronomy and Space Sciences Institute in Daejeon. The project title is "Testing the Integrated Sachs-Wolfe Effect in Different Models of the Universe." The host scientist is Dr Yong-Seon Song. Dark energy forms anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background, resulting in the integrated Sachs-Wolfe (ISW) effect. The ISW-LSS (Large Scale Structure) cross-correlation function, which shows the ISW effect on large angular scales, is derived. Relevant data from the nine-year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe observations and the Planck mission results are employed, and the Cosmic Linear Anisotropy Solving System used to perform integration in the process. In conclusion, the ISW effect on the Viscous Dark Fluid cosmology, which will likely produce strong ISW signals, and the Inflection Point Quintessence cosmology, which will likely produce the opposite kind, is tested. Broader impacts of an EAPSI fellowship include providing the Fellow a first-hand research experience outside the U.S.; an introduction to the science, science policy, and scientific infrastructure of the respective location; and an orientation to the society, culture and language. These activities meet the NSF goal to educate for international collaborations early in the career of its scientists, engineers, and educators, thus ensuring a globally aware U.S. scientific workforce. Furthermore, a paper about the research results targeting physics amateurs will be disseminated to a broad audience, including through a non-technical journal. Presentation of the research will be proposed at national and international general science and interdisciplinary conferences that even involve the arts disciplines. Coordination will be made with the Society of Physics Students at the author's home institution for launching an outreach program in the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) in Nashville, TN to make presentations at the 21 high schools and other schools where high school students are enrolled, which include the Baxter and Cohn Alternative Learning Centers, the MNPS Virtual School and the Cohn Adult High School. The students will be introduced to the mystery of dark energy and its pivotal stance. Then, the rest of the research will be presented in a systematic fashion through visual materials. Due to the ethnic and socio-economic demographics of the student population in MNPS, a significant number of under-represented minorities in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields will be reached.