21st Century Frontier of Discovery: The Physics of the Universe. A strategic Plan for Federal Research at the Intersection of Physics and Astronomy

摘要

The Interagency Working Group on the Physics of the Universe (IWG) presents its conclusions on the actions necessary to implement the recommendations of Connecting Quarks with the Cosmos: Eleven Science Questions for the New Century, a 2002 a report of the National Research Council, The opportunity to gather important new knowledge in cosmology astronomy and fundamental physics stems from recent discoveries which suggest that the basic properties of the universe as a whole may be intimately related to the science of the very smallest known things. The properties of stars and galaxies the existence and behavior of black holes and the way that the universe changes with time may be connected to the physics that governs elementary particles such as quarks and other constituents of atoms.