The Evolution, Influence, and Ultimate Fate of Massive Stars: Transient Phenomena and Stellar Astrophysics in the Era of Wide-Field Surveys

大质量恒星的演化、影响和最终命运：广域巡天时代的瞬态现象和恒星天体物理学

• 批准号: RGPIN-2019-06186
• 负责人: Drout, Maria
• 金额: $ 2.4万
• 依托单位: University of Toronto
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=743962
• 关键词: Evolution; Influence; Ultimate; Fate; Massive

An improved understanding of the lifecycle of massive stars benefits every subfield in astrophysics. Through their ionizing radiation, powerful stellar winds, nucleosynthesis, and deaths as supernova (SN) explosions, massive stars give birth to black holes and neutron stars, while stoking the dynamical and chemical evolution of the universe. Although the study of massive stars is one of the oldest subfields in astronomy, the recent advent of wide-field time-domain surveys has launched an upheaval in field of stellar evolution. By opening new regimes of the dynamic sky, we have uncovered new types of astronomical transients, challenging our views of the physical processes that occur during both the lives and explosive deaths of massive stars. The goal of my research program is to understand the life and death of massive stars, and their relation to the origin of unusual astronomical transients. Our fundamental approach is to combine multi-wavelength observations of transient phenomena with studies of resolved stellar populations, which will leverage the next generation of wide-field time-domain surveys and gravitational wave facilities as well as the advances in stellar astrophysics enabled by high-precision photometry and large-scale spectroscopic surveys. Sitting firmly at the intersection of fields poised for rapid progress, this program will lead the development of a comprehensive picture of the evolution, influence, and ultimate fate of massive stars. In particular, we focus on three primary Long-Term Research Objectives: (1) Multi-messenger Gravitational-Wave Astrophysics: My group will advance the burgeoning field of multi-messenger gravitational-wave astrophysics from individual objects to population studies. We will address questions such as total contribution of neutron star mergers to cosmic nucleosynthesis. (2) New Regimes of Transient Astronomy: My group will use the next generation of wide-field time domain surveys to fully map the phase space of transients, and conduct the multi-wavelength follow-up programs to determine the nature of newly discovered (but possibly prevalent) varieties of explosions. We will also use observations of SN to address pressing questions in stellar physics, such as the mechanism that drives explosive pre-SN mass loss, and the progenitors of SN explosions. (3) Stellar Astrophysics via Population Statistics: We will push the frontiers of spectroscopic, photometric, and time-resolved surveys of massive star populations in nearby galaxies. We will continue to develop new techniques to identify and characterize evolved massive stars in elusive phases. Using the first statistical samples of such objects, we will address fundamental questions---such as the role of eruptive mass loss in the evolution of massive stars, and the influence binary stars on the epoch of reionization.

对大质量恒星生命周期的更好理解有利于天体物理学的每个子领域。通过它们的电离辐射，强大的恒星风，核合成和超新星爆炸的死亡，大质量恒星诞生了黑洞和中子星，同时引发了宇宙的动力学和化学演化。虽然大质量恒星的研究是天文学中最古老的子领域之一，但最近出现的宽场时域巡天在恒星演化领域引发了一场剧变。通过打开动态天空的新机制，我们发现了新类型的天文瞬变，挑战了我们对大质量恒星生命和爆炸死亡期间发生的物理过程的看法。我的研究项目的目标是了解大质量恒星的生与死，以及它们与不寻常的天文瞬变起源的关系。我们的基本方法是将对瞬态现象的联合收割机多波长观测与对已分辨的恒星种群的研究相结合，这将利用下一代宽场时域巡天和引力波设施以及高精度测光和大尺度光谱巡天所实现的恒星天体物理学的进展。该计划牢牢地坐在准备快速发展的领域的交叉点上，将引领大质量恒星的演化，影响和最终命运的全面发展。特别是，我们专注于三个主要的长期研究目标：（1）多信使引力波天体物理学：我的团队将推动新兴的多信使引力波天体物理学领域从单个物体到人口研究。我们将讨论诸如中子星星合并对宇宙核合成的总贡献等问题。(2)瞬变天文学的新机制：我的团队将使用下一代宽场时域调查来全面绘制瞬变的相空间，并进行多波长后续计划，以确定新发现的（但可能普遍存在的）爆炸种类的性质。我们还将使用SN的观测来解决恒星物理学中的紧迫问题，例如驱动爆炸前SN质量损失的机制，以及SN爆炸的祖先。 (3)通过人口统计学的恒星天体物理学：我们将推动光谱学，光度学和时间分辨调查的前沿在附近星系的大质量星星人口。我们将继续开发新技术，以识别和描述处于难以捉摸阶段的演化大质量恒星。使用这些对象的第一个统计样本，我们将解决基本问题-如喷发质量损失在大质量恒星演化中的作用，以及双星对再电离时代的影响。