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Research enabled by CanDIAPL

 

Cosmic Explosions & the Transient Universe

 

The Universe is a volatile place: a huge range of celestial objects flare, flicker, or explode. These changes, which are often brief, provide unique windows into the core processes that drive the evolution of the cosmos. Some events, like supernovae occur once, when stars end their lives in explosions that temporarily outshine entire galaxies, and that have critical implications for the production and distribution of heavy elements in the Universe. Other transient events can be less cataclysmic. Matter falling onto black holes (and other compact objects like neutron stars) can lead to outbursts of light and strong outflows of gas, impacting how stars and galaxies form. Optical and radio data provide vital anchors for a multi-messenger view of the transient Universe. 

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Finding and monitoring astronomical transients is challenging. Many discoveries occur by chance, and science opportunities can be lost when a transient’s light fades, preventing follow-up with other facilities. By processing alerts in a changing sky, CanDIAPL will help us learn why different Galactic radio sources vary, and uncover the nature of rapidly evolving extragalactic transients. We will use it to find sources of gravitational waves and identify the engines at the hearts of galaxies and the stars they are ripping apart. We will be able to measure cosmic expansion using exploding supernovae.

 

Galaxies, Gas, and Dark Matter

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The matter in the Universe is almost entirely comprised of two components, hydrogen gas (roughly 9%) and dark matter (roughly 84%). Small density fluctuations in the early universe were enhanced by gravitational collapse, which formed the distribution of galaxies we see today. Disk galaxies like the Milky Way are rotating mixtures of stars, gas and dark matter, embedded in a diffuse intergalactic medium (IGM) with which galaxies are continually interchanging material through accretion and ejection. These components are connected by surprisingly strong magnetic fields, which counter the effects of gravity and play a crucial role in controlling the flows of gas. 

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By using CanDIAPL to process ‘static’ sky objects we will learn about magnetism in the cosmos, measure galaxy structure in stars and gas, learn about the star formation history of nearby galaxies and map the distribution of matter in the universe through gravitational lensing.