Celestial fireworks: revealing the physics of the time-variable sky

Información del proyecto

Fireworks

Identificador del acuerdo de subvención: 725161

DOI

10.3030/725161

Proyecto cerrado

Fecha de la firma de la CE 24 Abril 2017

Fecha de inicio 1 Septiembre 2017

Fecha de finalización 31 Julio 2023

Financiado con arreglo a

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)

Coste total

€ 2 461 111,00

Aportación de la UE

€ 2 461 111,00

Coordinado por

WEIZMANN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE
Israel

Periodic Reporting for period 4 - Fireworks (Celestial fireworks: revealing the physics of the time-variable sky)

Período documentado: 2022-03-01 hasta 2023-07-31

Resumen del contexto y de los objetivos generales del proyecto

This project is aimed at studying transient astrophysical phenomena on timescales shorter than previously possible - nightly (subproject 1), hourly (subproject 2) and down to minure/second timescale (subproject 5), as well as to collect and analyse large samples of such events (subproject 3) and to develop new tools and methods that will help to find unusual objects (subproject 4).

Understanding transient astrophysical phenomena is a key to understanding fundamental problems in astrophysics and physics in general, and move our understanding of the physical universe surrounding us forward.

Trabajo realizado desde el comienzo del proyecto hasta el final del período abarcado por el informe y los principales resultados hasta la fecha

All subprojects were concluded successfully. The project contributed significantly to the study of transients of all types on timescales of days (especially young, 1-2 days old supernova explosions) and pioneered studies of the transient sky down to timescales of minutes with the W-FAST facility. It led to numerous high-impact and highly visible publications. It provided valuable training to young scientists, including thesis projects for students as well as training to postdoctoral students, some of whom now hold tenure-track positions.

Avances que van más allá del estado de la técnica e impacto potencial esperado (incluida la repercusión socioeconómica y las implicaciones sociales más amplias del proyecto hasta la fecha)

We have:

* measured for the first time the fraction of all massive stars that explode within clouds of surrounding matter, and showed this is ubiquitous (60% of cases), indicating that massive stars undergo a period of rapid
mass loss prior to their terminal explosion; this is unexplained by standard models of stellar evolution, and require a new thinking about massive star evolution, structure, and explosion as supernovae.

* We have found the first example of an exploding star within a Wolf-Rayet wind nebula.

* We have contributed to the discovery of the first gravitational-wave counterpart, GW170817.

Discovery of a new type of supernova