TY - JOUR
T1 - Understanding the Death of Massive Stars Using an Astrophysical Transients Observatory
AU - Roming, Peter W.A.
AU - Baron, Eddie
AU - Bayless, Amanda J.
AU - Bromm, Volker
AU - Brown, Peter J.
AU - Davis, Michael W.
AU - Fialkov, Anastasia
AU - Fleming, Brian
AU - France, Kevin
AU - Fryer, Chris L.
AU - Greathouse, Thomas K.
AU - Hancock, Jed J.
AU - Howell, D. Andrew
AU - Levan, Andrew J.
AU - Loeb, Abraham
AU - Margutti, Raffaella
AU - McConnell, Mark L.
AU - O'Brien, Paul T.
AU - Osborne, Julian P.
AU - Perley, Daniel A.
AU - Schlegel, Eric M.
AU - Starling, Rhaana L.C.
AU - Tanvir, Nial R.
AU - Tapley, Mark
AU - Young, Patrick A.
AU - Zhang, Bing
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© Copyright © 2018 Roming, Baron, Bayless, Bromm, Brown, Davis, Fialkov, Fleming, France, Fryer, Greathouse, Hancock, Howell, Levan, Loeb, Margutti, McConnell, O'Brien, Osborne, Perley, Schlegel, Starling, Tanvir, Tapley, Young and Zhang.
PY - 2018/8/30
Y1 - 2018/8/30
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - astrophysical instrumentation
KW - astrophysical observatory
KW - core-collapse supernovae
KW - death of massive stars
KW - gamma-ray bursts
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U2 - 10.3389/fspas.2018.00025
DO - 10.3389/fspas.2018.00025
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85073074234
SN - 2296-987X
VL - 5
JO - Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences
JF - Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences
M1 - 25
ER -