A Search For Failed Supernovae and Other Observational Constraints on the Supernova Mechanism

俄亥俄州州立大学的一个研究小组将开展一个项目，利用多方面的观测和理论方法，更好地了解大质量恒星的命运和黑洞的形成。了解黑洞的形成是非常重要的，因为科学家们用引力波仪器探测到更多的黑洞合并。核心是一个独特的项目，使用双8.4米大型双筒望远镜（LBT）来监测附近27个恒星形成星系中的所有大质量演化恒星。 该项目的主要目标是：（1）测量大质量星星核心坍塌失败的部分，产生一个没有超新星爆炸的黑洞，并描述这些失败的超新星的性质;（2）测量SN祖先的性质，特别是对它们的可变性进行开创性研究;（3）描述恒星死亡前后的多样性。 在此过程中，该项目将促进学生和博士后研究人员的培训，并扩大公众对科学的理解和兴趣，这得益于他们对恒星及其复杂的死亡之路的迷恋。这个问题可以解决，如果20%的核心崩溃失败，并产生一个黑洞没有SN爆炸。这个失败的SN分数也自然地解释了致密天体的质量函数。研究小组已经确定了一个优秀的候选人，这意味着失败率为16%。在目前的项目中，他们将进一步确认这一候选者，确定其他候选者，并更好地限制核心坍塌失败的比例。非常少的SN祖细胞被很好地表征，使得难以确定祖细胞和结果之间的映射。该项目将在LBT调查中描述SN的祖先，对银河系超新星祖先的先驱限制，以及更好地描述和改进使用当地恒星种群对祖先的限制。多重性和双星相互作用对于理解大质量恒星、超新星和引力波合并事件的演化至关重要。该项目将扩大对恒星死亡前后多重性的限制的开创性研究，特别是通过精确确定银河系SN遗迹的距离。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

A research team at the Ohio State University will carry out a project to better understand the fates of massive stars and the formation of black holes using a multifaceted observational and theoretical approach. Understanding the formation of black holes is of enormous importance as scientists detect more black hole mergers with gravitational wave instruments. The centerpiece is a unique project using the twin 8.4m Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) to monitor all the massive, evolved stars in 27 nearby star-forming galaxies. The primary goals of the project are to (1) Measure the fraction of massive star core collapses that fail, producing a black hole without a supernova (SN) explosion, and characterize the properties of these failed supernovae; (2) Measure the properties of SN progenitors, in particular with pioneering studies of their variability; and (3) Characterize the multiplicity of stars just before and after death. While doing so, the project will advance the training of students and postdoctoral researchers and broaden the public’s understanding and interest in science, aided by their fascination with stars and their complicated roads to death.Searches for the progenitors of SNe are finding a deficit of high mass progenitors. This problem can be solved if 20% of core collapses fail and produce a black hole without a SN explosion. This failed SN fraction also naturally explains the compact object mass function. The research team has already identified one excellent candidate, implying a failure fraction of 16%. During the current project they will further confirm this candidate, identify others, and better constrain the fraction of core collapses that fail. Very few SN progenitors are well characterized, making it difficult to determine the mapping between progenitors and outcomes. The project will characterize progenitors of SN in the LBT survey, pioneer constraints on the progenitors of Galactic supernovae, and better characterize and improve constraints on progenitors using local stellar populations. Multiplicity and binary interactions are crucial to understanding anything about the evolution of massive stars, supernovae and gravitational wave merger events. The project will expand on pioneering studies constraining the multiplicity of stars just before and after their deaths, in particular by accurately determining the distances to Galactic SN remnants. This award advances the goals of the Windows on the Universe Big Idea.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.