Explaining Peculiar Thermonuclear Supernovae

该奖项将支持最近发现的具有不同寻常特征的超新星的理论研究。新的调查正在挖掘大量的各种类型的超新星，一些相对罕见的事件现在已经得到了彻底的研究。该项目的目标是看看这些超新星是否可以被解释为是热核超新星的结果，在热核超新星中，爆炸的白矮星的总质量不一定等于允许的最大质量(钱德拉斯克哈)。PI将探索双重简并、氦壳爆炸和吸积引起的坍塌事件，并将光曲线、光谱和偏振的观测结果与包含复杂辐射传输代码的模型的输出进行比较。该项目将允许理论和观测之间的直接比较，这将有助于观察者解释新的发现，并帮助建模人员扎根于实际数据。该小组还将组织一次高性能计算暑期班，吸引50名学生。该学院的目标是让学生亲身体验生产科学代码，这将有助于培养下一代计算天体物理学家。

This award will support a theoretical investigation of recently-discovered supernovae with unusual characteristics. New surveys are digging up large numbers of supernovae of all types, and some relatively rare events have now been thoroughly studied. The goal of the project is to see if these supernovae can be explained as resulting from thermonuclear supernovae in which the total mass of the exploded white dwarf does not necessarily equal the maximum allowed (Chandraskehar) mass. The PI will explore double degenerate mergers, helium shell explosions, and accretion induced collapse events, and will compare observations of light curves, spectra, and polarization to the output of models that include sophisticated radiation transport codes.The project will allow direct comparisons between theory and observation, which will help observers explain new discoveries, and help modelers to stay rooted in actual data. This group will also organize a summer school on high-performance computing, which will draw 50 students. The goal of the school is to give students hands-on experience with production scientific codes, which will help produce the next generation of computational astrophysicists.