Understanding the Death of Massive Stars Using an Astrophysical Transients Observatory

Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences

Young, Patrick A.¹  McConnell, Mark L.²  Osborne, Julian P.³  Margutti, Raffaella⁴  Tanvir, Nial R.⁵  Bromm, Volker⁶  Perley, Daniel A.⁷  Schlegel, Eric M.⁸  Starling, Rhaana L. C.⁸  Zhang, Bing⁸  Brien, Paul T.⁹  Brown, Peter J.^1,10  Loeb, Abraham^1,11  Roming, Peter W. A.^1,12  Hancock, Jed J.^1,13  Fialkov, Anastasia^1,13  Bayless, Amanda J.^1,13  Fleming, Brian^1,15  O'^1,15  Baron, Eddie^1,16  Fryer, Chris L.^1,17  France, Kevin^1,17  Levan, Andrew J.^1,18  Greathouse, Thomas K.^1,19  Davis, Michael W.^2,20  Tapley, Mark^2,21  Howell, D. Andrew^2,23 

[1] Astronomy, University of Texas at San Antonio, United States;Astrophysics Group, Department of Physics, University of Warwick, United Kingdom;Sciences, Northwestern University, United States;Astronomy &Dark Cosmology Centre, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Denmark;Department of Astronomy, University of Texas at Austin, United States;Department of Earth Oceans and Space, Southwest Research Institute, United States;Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, United Kingdom;Department of Physics and Astronomy, Weinberg College of Arts &Department of Physics, Texas A&Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, United States;Department of Space Engineering, Southwest Research Institute, United States;Department of Space Science, Southwest Research Institute, United States;Department of Spacecraft Development, Southwest Research Institute, United States;Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Institute for Theory and Computation, United States;Homer L. Dodge Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Oklahoma, United States;Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado Boulder, United States;Las Cumbres Observatory, United States;Los Alamos National Laboratory, Center for Nonlinear Studies, United States;M University, United States;Physics &School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, United States;Space Dynamics Laboratory, Utah State University, United States

关键词: gamma-ray bursts;    core-collapse supernovae;    death of massive stars;    astrophysical instrumentation;    Astrophysical observatory;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fspas.2018.00025

学科分类：空间科学

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

The death of massive stars, manifested as gamma-ray bursts and core-collapse supernovae, critically influence how the universe formed and evolves. Despite their fundamental importance, our understanding of these enigmatic objects is severely limited. We have performed a concept study of an Astrophysical Transient Observatory (ATO) that will rapidly facilitate an expansion of our understanding of these objects. ATO combines a very wide-field X-ray telescope, a near-infrared telescope, a multi-mode ultraviolet instrument, and a rapidly slewing spacecraft to realize two primary goals: 1) characterize the highest-redshift massive stars and their environments, and 2) constrain the poorly understood explosion mechanism of massive stars. The goals are met by observing the first massive stars to explode as gamma-ray bursts and to probe their environments, and by observing the shock breakout of core-collapse supernovae to measure the outer envelope parameters of massive stars. Additionally ATO will observe the shock breakout of Type Ia supernovae and their shock interaction with a companion, electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational wave sources, tidal disruption events, cataclysmic variables, X-ray transients, flares from exoplanet host stars, and the escape of ionizing radiation from star-forming galaxies. A description of the ATO instruments, the mission simulation, and technology readiness level is provided.

【 授权许可】

CC BY