Comprehensive Analysis of Period Changes in Eclipsing Binaries as a Probe of Stellar Astrophysics

食双星周期变化的综合分析作为恒星天体物理的探索

• 批准号: 2206814
• 负责人: Veselin Kostov
• 金额: $ 46.28万
• 依托单位: SETI Institute
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-09-01 至 2025-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2206814&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Comprehensive; Analysis; Period; Changes; Eclipsing

A natural and very common product of star formation processes, binary stars provide a vital foundation of stellar studies as calibrators for stellar sizes, masses, temperatures, and luminosities. They also serve as probes for stellar structure, formation and evolution, tidal interactions, and other more specialized fields such as accretion physics, asteroseismology, resonant dynamics, and the formation and evolution of exoplanets in multiple star systems. Eclipsing binaries are a special group of binary stars, in which the two stars periodically eclipse each other, producing variations in their light curves. A team of scientists at the SETI institute and at San Diego State University will perform an analysis of deviations from the regular, periodic behavior in this special type of binary stars. Deviations can be introduced by the presence of planets and by rotation and tidal forces. By investigating these deviations, the team will be able to constrain the internal structure of each component star, providing unique constraints to improve current stellar structure models. In addition, the team will create a set of 3-days workshops for STEM teachers, in collaboration with existing national education outreach programs that partner astronomers with teachers in grades 3 to 9. The workshops will provide hands-on project-based learning with an overarching theme of eclipses and transits. The project plan has three components: 1) Measure decades-long period changes for hundreds of eclipsing binaries; 2) Constrain the internal structure of each star in suitable binaries; 3) Probe for the presence of additional bodies (stars, circumbinary planets). The investigators will use all available photometric data from ground- and space-based archives for hundreds of known eclipsing binaries. Furthermore, they will use a state-of-the-art modeling code that predicts the measured eclipse times based on the orbital configuration of the particular system and the properties of its components, as well as on the corresponding tidal and general relativity effects. Presently, period changes in certain binaries are used to measure the average apsidal motion constant of the binary. This project has the potential to measure the apsidal motion constants of each star in a much larger sample. This will be made possible by using eclipse times measured over many decades. This is critical because the precession timescales are much longer than the orbital period of the binaries and, as a result, their detection often requires photometric observations spanning decades. Studying a large sample of eclipsing binaries covering different stellar types and environments will also advance the knowledge of the physics of binary interactions, leading to a better understanding of tidal forces, migration, spin-orbit coupling, and mass transfer.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

二进制恒星是恒星形成过程的天然且非常常见的产物，为出色的研究提供了至关重要的基础，作为校准剂，质量，质量，温度和亮度。它们还可以充当恒星结构，形成和进化，潮汐相互作用以及其他更专业的领域的探针，例如增生物理学，腌制学，谐振动力学以及多个星系中系外行星的形成和演化。黯然失色的二进制组是一组特殊的二进制恒星，其中两个恒星会定期彼此蚀，从而在光曲线中产生变化。 SETI学院和圣地亚哥州立大学的科学家团队将对这种特殊类型的二元明​​星的常规，周期性行为进行分析。可以通过行星的存在以及旋转和潮汐力来引入偏差。通过研究这些偏差，团队将能够限制每个组件恒星的内部结构，从而提供独特的约束，以改善当前的恒星结构模型。此外，该团队将与现有的国家教育外展计划合作，为STEM教师创建一组3天的研讨会，该计划与3至9年级的教师合作。这些讲习班将提供基于项目的动手学习，并具有eclipses and Transits的总体主题。项目计划有三个组成部分：1）数百万种黯然失色的二进制文件的数十年时间变化； 2）在合适的二进制中限制每个恒星的内部结构； 3）探测是否存在其他物体（恒星，环形行星）。研究人员将对数百种已知的黯然失色的二进制文件使用来自地面和空间档案的所有可用光度数据。此外，他们将使用最先进的建模代码，该代码基于特定系统的轨道配置及其组件的属性以及相应的潮汐和一般相对性效应来预测所测量的日食时间。目前，某些二进制文件的周期变化用于测量二进制的平均APSidal运动常数。该项目有可能在更大的样品中测量每个恒星的apsidal运动常数。通过使用数十年来测量的日食时间，这将成为可能。这很关键，因为预进时间尺度比二进制的轨道时期更长，因此，它们的检测通常需要数十年来的光度观测值。研究涵盖不同恒星类型和环境的大量黯然失色的二进制样本也将提高对二元相互作用的物理的了解，从而更好地了解潮汐力，迁移，旋转轨道耦合和大规模转移。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过评估了基金会的智力效果，并通过评估了基金会的范围。