Establishing the Properties of the First Stars and Supernovae and the Origins of the Heaviest Elements with Stellar Archaeology

用恒星考古学确定第一颗恒星和超新星的性质以及最重元素的起源

• 批准号: 1716251
• 负责人: Anna Frebel
• 金额: $ 65.07万
• 依托单位: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-09-01 至 2023-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1716251&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Establishing; Properties; First; Stars; Supernovae

The Big Bang left behind the Universe made from just hydrogen, helium, and tiny amounts of lithium. With time more and more of all heavier chemical elements from the Periodic Table were produced in stars, supernova explosions, and mergers of neutron stars. Astronomers study old stars to understand the cosmic history of the elements and how their presence has influenced star and galaxy formation throughout cosmic time. These stars are over 13 billion years old and thus formed very early in the Universe soon after the Big Bang. These low mass stars change very slowly with time and so preserve a "chemical fingerprint" of the Universe at the time they formed. The investigator intends to organize observations of stars into a chemical sequence leading to a better understanding of the elements that we find on Earth. The investigator will expand upon her public education efforts by working with undergraduate students to produce videos describing the astronomical connection to common consumer products. The videos will be distributed through the institution's outreach program and the students will gain skill in media work and science communications.The investigator will use the large Magellan telescope in Chile to observe these old stars in the Milky Way galaxy and small satellite dwarf galaxies. This will enable her to unlock critical information about the very first stars that first lit up the Universe and the associated first element production events that cannot be obtained with any other method. It will also provide long-missing details about the production sites of the very heaviest elements, e.g., silver and gold. She will also search for surviving first galaxies using stellar chemical composition as a key indicator. Altogether, this enables her to reconstruct how the Universe evolved from just a few stars into today's rich and complex Universe. Her results will guide many research areas such as early star and galaxy formation, nuclear physics, stellar nucleosynthesis, dwarf galaxies, formation of the Milky Way, and complement far-field observations to be obtained with current and next generations of telescopes.

大爆炸留下的宇宙仅由氢、氦和少量的锂组成。 随着时间的推移，元素周期表中越来越多的重化学元素在恒星、超新星爆炸和中子星合并中产生。 天文学家研究古老的恒星，以了解元素的宇宙历史，以及它们的存在如何影响整个宇宙时间的恒星和星系的形成。 这些恒星已有超过 130 亿年的历史，因此在宇宙大爆炸后不久就形成了。 这些低质量恒星随着时间的推移变化非常缓慢，因此在它们形成时保留了宇宙的“化学指纹”。 研究人员打算将对恒星的观察组织成化学序列，以便更好地了解我们在地球上发现的元素。 研究人员将与本科生合作制作视频，描述天文学与普通消费品的联系，从而扩大她的公共教育工作。 这些视频将通过该机构的外展计划分发，学生将获得媒体工作和科学传播的技能。研究人员将使用智利的大型麦哲伦望远镜来观察银河系和小型卫星矮星系中的这些老恒星。 这将使她能够解锁有关首次照亮宇宙的第一批恒星以及相关的第一元素产生事件的关键信息，而这些信息是无法通过任何其他方法获得的。 它还将提供有关最重元素（例如银和金）生产地点的长期缺失的详细信息。 她还将使用恒星化学成分作为关键指标来寻找幸存的第一个星系。 总而言之，这使她能够重建宇宙是如何从少数恒星演化成当今丰富而复杂的宇宙的。 她的研究成果将指导许多研究领域，例如早期恒星和星系的形成、核物理、恒星核合成、矮星系、银河系的形成，并补充当前和下一代望远镜获得的远场观测。

项目成果

Actinide-rich and Actinide-poor r -process-enhanced Metal-poor Stars Do Not Require Separate r -process Progenitors

富含锕系元素和贫锕系元素的r过程增强型贫金属恒星不需要单独的r过程祖细胞

• DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ab2a01
• 发表时间: 2019
• 期刊: The Astrophysical Journal
• 作者: Holmbeck, Erika M.;Frebel, Anna;McLaughlin, G. C.;Mumpower, Matthew R.;Sprouse, Trevor M.;Surman, Rebecca
• 通讯作者: Surman, Rebecca

Characterizing r -Process Sites through Actinide Production

通过锕系元素生产表征 r 过程位点

• DOI: 10.1088/1742-6596/1668/1/012020
• 发表时间: 2020
• 期刊: Journal of Physics: Conference Series
• 作者: Holmbeck, Erika M.;Surman, Rebecca;Frebel, Anna;McLaughlin, G. C.;Mumpower, Matthew R.;Sprouse, Trevor M.;Kawano, Toshihiko;Vassh, Nicole;Beers, Timothy C.
• 通讯作者: Beers, Timothy C.

Cosmological Insights into the Early Accretion of \textit{r}-Process-Enhanced stars. I. A Comprehensive Chemo-dynamical Analysis of LAMOST J1109+0754

对 extit{r} 过程增强恒星早期吸积的宇宙学见解。

• 发表时间: 2020
• 期刊: The astrophysical journal
• 作者: Mardini, Mohammad K.;Placco, Vinicius M.;Meiron, Yohai;Ishchenko, Marina;Avramov, Branislav;Mazzarini, Matteo;Berczik, Peter;Arca Sedda, Manuel;Beers, Timothy C.;Frebel, Anna
• 通讯作者: Frebel, Anna

The R-Process Alliance: Spectroscopic Follow-up of Low-metallicity Star Candidates from the Best & Brightest Survey

R 工艺联盟：对最佳低金属度恒星候选者进行光谱追踪

• DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/aaf3b9
• 发表时间: 2019
• 期刊: The Astrophysical Journal
• 作者: Placco, Vinicius M.;Santucci, Rafael M.;Beers, Timothy C.;Chanamé, Julio;Sepúlveda, María Paz;Coronado, Johanna;Rossi, Silvia;Lee, Young Sun;Starkenburg, Else;Youakim, Kris
• 通讯作者: Youakim, Kris

Detection of Pb II in the Ultraviolet Spectra of Three Metal-Poor Stars

三颗贫金属恒星紫外光谱中 Pb II 的检测

• DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/abbc21
• 发表时间: 2020
• 期刊: The astrophysical journal
• 作者: Roederer, Ian U.;Lawler, James E.;Holmbeck, Erika M.;Beers, Timothy C.;Ezzeddine, Rana;Frebel, Anna;Hansen, Terese T.;Ivans, Inese I.;Karakas, Amanda I.;Placco, Vinicius M.
• 通讯作者: Placco, Vinicius M.