Collaborative Research: Studying Nearby Cosmic Explosions from their Earliest Moments

Exploding stars, called supernovae, have an outsized impact on the Universe, seeding the next generations of stars and planets with newly-forged chemical elements, and shaping galaxies. Important clues about what exploded and how arrives only in the first hours and days after these explosions, so it is important to have telescopes that can promptly identify and study new supernovae. This research team will enhance its rapid survey for the nearest and brightest supernovae in the sky. They will incorporate new infrastructure to find even younger nearby. As part of this work, three graduate students will learn and contribute to supernova science and develop skills in technical software, data analysis, and scientific presentation and publication. The team will also communicate research results and technical expertise to the public, running a software bootcamp at Pima Community College, using supernova science examples, and contributing to planetarium shows at the Liberty Science Center in New Jersey. The team will search for supernova in galaxies within 40 Mpc of Earth, taking advantage of four small telescopes in the PROMPT network. The survey employs a real-time machine learning algorithm that can automatically trigger other telescopes once a strong supernova candidate is found; further improvements to this algorithm will be made, incorporating new telescopes and instruments. Combining this active search with the data streams of other supernova searches will yield 30 very young nearby supernovae over three years – the predict the discovery of 12 thermonuclear, type Ia supernovae; 12 core collapse supernovae and 6 stripped envelope supernovae. Early spectroscopy that displays narrow emission lines will probe the composition of the circumstellar medium and thus the final years of the progenitor star’s life. For all types of supernovae, densely time-sampled spectroscopy will measure the composition and distribution of the ejecta. 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.