Solving the Type Ia Supernova Progenitor Puzzle

该奖项将资助一项理论和观测相结合的研究，以解决Ia型超新星的起源问题。迪·斯特凡诺博士和她的合作者将创建广泛的种群合成模拟，利用观测来计算超新星在演化的两个阶段出现的情况：一个是白矮星质量增加的时期，另一个可能是白矮星可能需要减速才能爆炸的第二个时期。该小组将在最近的大型调查中计算超新星前身的预期签名，并挖掘超新星前身的现有大型数据集，以确定居住在银河系和麦哲伦云中的数千超新星前身中的一些位置。近年来，天文学家提出，这些恒星爆炸可能来自白矮星等致密恒星残留物的各种情况。了解超新星的起源被视为改善宇宙扩张史研究的关键问题。Di Stefano博士还将继续她在公共教育和外展方面的努力，并将把许多不同级别(从高中到研究生)的学生纳入这个项目。

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.