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，超新星爆炸可能发生在星星生命的末期。这些星星是怎么死的？ 天文学家使用SNe作为“标准蜡烛”，因为它们都显示出几乎相同的能量爆炸。 如果爆炸的能量是恒定的，那么我们看到的超新星越暗，它一定离我们越远。 天文学家用这些SNe来测量星系的距离。由于它们的巨大亮度，SNe是天文学家研究远距离暗物质的最佳工具。然而，有一些严重的问题;不同元素组成或自旋的恒星是否会以不同的亮度爆炸？星星系统和爆炸物理学的细节如何影响我们对暗能量的理解？在过去的世纪，黑洞、中子星、暗能量、中微子和宇宙射线等最有趣的物理学背后，中微子一直是驱动力之一。新发现的瞬变类已经引起了关于引力波、对不稳定性爆炸和r过程元素产生的讨论。该计划将培训两名伊利诺伊大学的研究生，从事观测恒星天体物理学的研究，并与全国各地的本科天文学课程进行综合教育。研究生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）发现和表征新的和最近发现的天体物理瞬变类，（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.