Solving the Type Ia Supernova Progenitor Puzzle

该奖项将资助一项结合理论和观测的研究，以解决Ia型超新星的起源问题。迪·斯蒂法诺博士和她的合作者将创建大量的星群合成模拟，通过观测来计算超新星在两个进化阶段的外观：一个是白矮星获得质量的时期，另一个是白矮星可能需要在爆炸前旋转下来的第二个时期。这个小组将在最近的大型调查中计算预期的特征，并挖掘现有的大型数据集，以确定居住在银河系和麦哲伦星云中的数千个祖先中的一些位置。近年来，天文学家提出，这些恒星爆炸可能来自各种情况，包括紧凑的恒星残骸，如白矮星。了解超新星的起源被视为改善宇宙膨胀史研究的关键问题。Di Stefano博士还将继续她在公共教育和推广方面的努力，并将在这个项目中包括许多不同层次的学生（高中到研究生院）。

This award will fund a combined theoretical and observational study to address the origins of Type Ia supernovae. Dr. Di Stefano and her collaborators will create extensive population synthesis simulations that employ observations to compute the appearance of supernovae at two stages of evolution: during an epoch when a white dwarf gains mass and during a possible second epoch, when the white dwarf may need to spin down before it can explode. This group will compute the expected signatures in, and mine existing large data sets for, supernova progenitors in recent large surveys to identify the locations some of the thousands of progenitors that inhabit the Milky Way and Magellanic Clouds. In recent years, astronomers have proposed that these stellar explosions may have come from a variety of situations involving compact stellar remnants such as white dwarfs. Understanding the origins of supernovae is viewed as a key issue in improving studies of the history of the expansion of the universe. Dr. Di Stefano will also continue her efforts in public education and outreach, and will include students at many different levels (high school through graduate school) in this project.