Characterizing Companions of the Most Massive Stars

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This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).Dr. Henry Kobulnicky will continue a long-term observational program at the University of Wyoming to determine the properties of close massive binary stars. He will lead a team of graduate students, undergraduates, secondary school teachers and their students to measure the frequencies, mass ratios, periods, and rotation rates in the populous young Cygnus OB2 Association. Close massive binary systems are the progenitors of energetic phenomena such as X-ray binaries and some classes of supernovae and gamma-ray bursts. Population synthesis models that predict the frequency of these events require reliable estimates of the binary frequency, mass ratios, and period distributions. Binary statistics also constrain models for the formation of massive stars.This project will include the participation of students from several of Wyoming's community colleges through on ongoing collaboration with faculty at Casper College and Northwest College. It will also support the operation of Wyoming Astrocamp through 2013. Astrocamp is a long-term education/research partnership between Wyoming's science teachers, junior-high students, college students, and organizations serving at-risk youth. Astrocamp will consist of a one-week summer college experience for junior high students and a weekend camp for youth from Wyoming's Boys and Girls Clubs. Astrocamp's goals are closely tied to educational standards of the State of Wyoming.