Stars with masses many times that of our Sun are the direct progenitors to cosmic phenomena such as supernova explosions, black holes, and gravitational wave sources.
Through observations we obtain empirical information of such massive stars, however decoding the radiation reaching us through our telescopes is a highly non-trivial exercise. To constrain fundamental properties like temperatures, radii, chemical abundances, and mass loss, the observed radiation is fit by means of model stellar atmospheres. Observations and theory show that the radiation-dominated atmospheres of massive stars are highly complex, multi-dimensional systems.
However, whereas 3D model atmospheres of sun-like stars have already been on the market for a while, for hot, massive stars we still rely solely on results derived from inadequate 1D simulations. This severely limits our knowledge of the basic physics of massive stars and our capacity to correctly interpret observations, thereby preventing progress also in the large number of astronomical fields that rely on a firm understanding of the massive-star life-cycle.
The time is now finally ripe to change this. We will here develop the very first 3D model atmospheres for hot, massive stars with winds. SUPERSTARS-3D will fundamentally improve our physical understanding of massive stars, and revolutionize analysis and interpretation of their observed radiation. By further confronting our pioneering simulations directly to state-of-the-art observations, we will derive unprecedented constraints on evolution and end-of-life models. Moreover, we will develop all new models in an open-source fashion and via the world-wide-web make them easily accessible for a broad community; as such, SUPERSTARS-3D will also provide the critical cornerstone from which a large number of future scientific programs undoubtedly will be built.
The central objectives of SUPERSTARS-3D can be summarized as:
- Methodology: Develop first 3D model atmospheres of stars in the three stages visualised in the figure above. From snapshots and time-series of our new models, use advanced radiative transfer techniques to compute synthetic spectra, light-curves, and images.
- Scientific: Carefully analyse the properties of these next-gen 3D simulations. Confront models with state-of-the-art observational data. Obtain constraints on key parameters (temperatures, radii, chemical abundances, turbulence, variability, mass loss, ... ). Evaluate results and impacts.
This will:
- Dramatically improve our understanding of the basic physics of massive stars.
- Revolutionize the way we perform observational investigations of these objects.
- Place unprecedented constraints on models governing the lives and deaths of massive stars.
