The Progenitors and Explosions of Type Ia Supernovae and Exotic Transients

University Of California-Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz CA

Investigators

Abstract

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.