The Progenitors and Explosions of Type Ia Supernovae and Exotic Transients

研究人员将解决有关超新星爆炸（SNe）的重要问题，这可能发生在恒星生命的末期。这些恒星是如何死亡的？天文学家使用SNe作为“标准蜡烛”，因为它们都以几乎相同的能量爆炸。如果爆炸的能量是恒定的，那么看到的SNe越暗，它就越遥远。天文学家利用这些超新星来测量到星系的距离。由于其巨大的亮度，SNe是天文学家研究远距离暗物质的最佳工具。然而，也存在一些严重的担忧；不同元素组成或旋转的恒星是否会以不同的亮度爆炸？恒星系统和爆炸物理的细节如何影响我们对暗能量的理解？在过去的一个世纪里，黑洞、中子星、暗能量、中微子和宇宙射线等一些最有趣的物理现象背后的驱动力之一就是超新星。新发现的瞬态类型已经引起了对引力波、对不稳定爆炸和r过程元素产生的讨论。由该提案资助的研究所产生的发现应该会解决一些同样有趣的物理学问题。该项目将对伊利诺伊大学的两名研究生进行恒星天体物理学观测方面的培训，并与全国各地的本科生天文学课程进行综合教育。研究生们将使用来自多个望远镜和调查的数据。主要的科学目标是：(1)发现和描述新的和最近发现的天体物理瞬变类型，(2)详细描述这些“外来”瞬变的祖先和爆炸，以及(3)确定Ia型超新星（SN Ia）的可观测值如何依赖于祖先系统。

The investigators will address important questions concerning the explosion of Supernovae (SNe), which can occur at the end of the life of a star. How do these stars die? Astronomers use SNe as 'standard candles', because they are all shown to explode with nearly identical energies. If the energy of an explosion is constant, then the fainter the SNe is seen, the more distant it must be. Astronomers use these SNe to measure the distance to galaxies. Because of their great brightness, SNe are astronomers best tool for studying dark matter at great distances. However there are some serious concerns; do stars with different element composition or spin explode with different brightness? How do the details of star systems and explosion physics influence our understanding of dark energy? SNe have been one of the driving forces behind some of the most interesting physics of the past century: black holes, neutron stars, dark energy, neutrinos, and cosmic rays. Newly discovered classes of transients have already brought about discussions of gravitational waves, pair-instability explosions, and r-process element creation. Discoveries resulting from research funded by this proposal should address some similarly interesting physics.This program will train two University of Illinois graduate students in observational stellar astrophysics and perform an integrated education program with undergraduate astronomy classes across the country. The graduate students will work with data from multiple telescopes and surveys. The main scientific goals are to (1) discover and characterize new and recently discovered classes of astrophysical transients, (2) detail the progenitors and explosions of those "exotic" transients, and (3) determine how Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) observables depend on the progenitor system.