Understanding the Death of Massive Stars Using an Astrophysical Transients Observatory

Authors

Peter W. Roming, Southwest Research Institute
Eddie Baron, University of Oklahoma
Amanda J. Bayless, Southwest Research Institute
Volker Bromm, University of Texas at Austin
Peter J. Brown, Texas A&M University
Michael W. Davis, Southwest Research Institute
Anastasia Fialkov, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Brian Fleming, University of Colorado Boulder
Kevin France, University of Colorado Boulder
Chris L. Fryer, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Thomas K. Greathouse, Southwest Research Institute
Jed J. Hancock, Utah State University
D. Andrew Howell, Las Cumbres Observatory; University of California, Santa Barbara
Andrew J. Levan, University of Warwick
Abraham Loeb, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Raffaella Margutti, Northwestern University
Mark L. McConnell, Southwest Research Institute
Paul T. O'Brien, University of LeicesterFollow
Julian P. Osborne, University of LeicesterFollow
Daniel A. Perley, University of Copenhagen
Eric M. Schlegel, University of Texas at San Antonio
Rhaana L. C. Starling, University of LeicesterFollow
Nial R. Tanvir, University of LeicesterFollow
Mark Tapley, Southwest Research Institute
Patrick A. Young, Arizona State University
Bing Zhang, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

8-30-2018

Publication Title

Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences

Volume

5

First page number:

1

Last page number:

15

Abstract

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, kilonovae, 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.

Keywords

Gamma-ray bursts; Core-collapse supernovae; Death of massive stars; Astrophysical instrumentation; Astrophysical observatory

Disciplines

Astrophysics and Astronomy

File Format

pdf

File Size

2.263 Kb

Language

English

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Repository Citation

Roming, P. W., Baron, E., Bayless, A. J., Bromm, V., Brown, P. J., Davis, M. W., Fialkov, A., Fleming, B., France, K., Fryer, C. L., Greathouse, T. K., Hancock, J. J., Howell, D. A., Levan, A. J., Loeb, A., Margutti, R., McConnell, M. L., O'Brien, P. T., Osborne, J. P., Perley, D. A., Schlegel, E. M., Starling, R. L., Tanvir, N. R., Tapley, M., Young, P. A., Zhang, B. (2018). Understanding the Death of Massive Stars Using an Astrophysical Transients Observatory. Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences, 5 1-15.
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fspas.2018.00025