Towards Ascertaining the Origins of Cataclysmic Variables Through Abundance Analyses

该奖项将支持一项关于激变变星系统中致密双星起源的研究，这些双星可能是某些类型超新星的祖先。 光谱学将被用来提供几个双星组成部分的精确质量和温度，并将被用来限制双星成员的内部结构。 这项工作的主要目标将是约束这些系统中次级恒星的当前演化状态，识别祖先的属性，并对与相互作用双星演化相关的过程提供额外的约束，包括对重要但知之甚少的共同包络相的约束。超新星的起源仍处于相当大的争论之中，天文学家正试图了解哪种类型的恒星最终会爆炸性地结束生命。 许多细节，特别是祖先恒星的演化，仍然知之甚少。

This award will support a study the origins of compact binary stars in cataclysmic variable systems that may be the progenitors of some types of supernovae. Spectroscopy will be used to provide accurate masses and temperatures of the components of several binaries, and will be used to constrain the interior structure of the binary members. The main goals of this work will be to constrain the current evolutionary state of the secondary stars in these systems, to identify the properties of the progenitors, and to provide additional constraints on the processes associated with the evolution of interacting binaries, including constraints on the important, but poorly understood, common envelope phase.The origins of supernovae are still under considerable debate, and astronomers are attempting to understand which types of stars eventually end their lives explosively. Many details, particularly of the evolution of progenitor stars, remain poorly understood.