Collaborative Proposal: The ELM Survey, Short Period Binary White Dwarfs as Supernova Progenitors, Gravitational Wave Sources, and Probes of Extreme Stellar Evolution

这项工作的研究目标是探测和表征双星系统中非常低质量的白矮星，以帮助了解可能的Ia型超新星祖先。大约30-50个新系统将被识别和研究，通过新的极低质量白矮星普查，利用斯隆数字巡天和超高速恒星巡天确定。这项工作将为外来低质量白矮星的形成和命运提供关键的新见解。它还将为广义相对论和短周期系统的潮汐演化提供新的检验。了解宇宙的组成和历史是现代天体物理学的核心。在过去的15年里，对Ia型超新星（SNe）的观测表明，宇宙的膨胀主要是由暗能量主导的。在我们找到它们的祖先之前，我们不可能理解系统的不确定性，也不可能优化超新星Ia以确定地探索宇宙学。因此，超新星Ia的祖先问题是当今天文学的一个关键问题，这项研究有望为我们对这些奇异系统的理解增加重要的知识。这项工作还为本科生、研究生和博士后参与观察、数据分析和结果传播制定了广泛的计划。

The research goal of this work is to detect and characterize very low mass white dwarfs in binary systems, in order to help understand likely Type Ia supernovae progenitors. About 30-50 new systems will be identified and studied with a new census of extremely low-mass white dwarfs identified using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and the Hyper-Velocity Star Survey. This work will provide critical new insights into the formation and fate of exotic low-mass white dwarfs. It will also give us new tests of General Relativity and tidal evolution in short-period systems.Understanding the constituents and history of the cosmos lies at the heart of modern astrophysics. In the last 15 years, observations of Type Ia supernovae (SNe) indicate that the expansion of the universe is dominated by dark energy. Until we find the progenitors, it is impossible to understand the systematic uncertainties and to optimize SNe Ia to definitively explore cosmology. The SNe Ia progenitor problem is therefore a key problem in astronomy today, and this research promises to add significant knowledge to our understanding of these exotic systems. The work also has a broad plan for undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral involvement in the observations, data analysis, and dissemination of results.