Towards Ascertaining the Origins of Cataclysmic Variables Through Abundance Analyses

这一奖项将支持一项研究，即致密双星在激变可变系统中的起源，该系统可能是某些类型超新星的前身。光谱学将被用来提供几个双星组件的准确质量和温度，并将被用来约束双星成员的内部结构。这项工作的主要目标将是限制这些系统中次级恒星的当前演化状态，确定前身恒星的性质，并为相互作用双星的演化过程提供额外的限制，包括对重要但鲜为人知的共同包络阶段的限制。超新星的起源仍然存在相当大的争论，天文学家正在试图了解哪些类型的恒星最终会爆炸性地结束它们的生命。许多细节，特别是关于前身恒星的演化，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.