Project description
How compact binaries shape the gravitational landscape
Observations of Type Ia supernovae led astronomers to discover the accelerating expansion of the universe. These explosions occur when a white dwarf in a binary system reaches a critical mass and detonates. While essential to cosmology, scientists still struggle to identify the specific star systems that lead to these events. The ERC-funded CompactBINARIES project addresses this by classifying hundreds of potential progenitors and gravitational-wave sources. Using data from the Gaia, BlackGEM and SDSS-V, the study measures the space density of compact binaries in our Galaxy. These findings help predict supernova formation rates and provide a vital map for the LISA mission. This research links light-based astronomy with gravitational-wave science to clarify how these binary systems shape the universe.
Objective
The accelerated expansion of the universe was one of the most striking discoveries in the 20th century and was only possible by using type Ia supernovae (SN Iae). Only the thermonuclear explosion of a white dwarf (WD) following the interaction in a binary system can explain the observed features. Several different binary scenarios are discussed including the merger and subsequent explosion of an ultracompact double white dwarf (double degenerate) or an explosion triggered by helium accretion from a helium star donor (double detonation). The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) is a space-based gravitational wave (GW) detector, which is currently being built by ESA. LISA will be sensitive to measure GWs directly of thousands of Galactic binaries, allowing for multi-messenger studies. The PI proposes to conduct a detailed observational study to identify and classify at least a few hundred SN Ia progenitors and LISA GW sources to 1) derive compact binary space densities and predict rates for different SN Ia formation channels to solve the supernova Ia progenitor problem 2) provide the first observationally derived population of resolvable LISA sources and Galactic LISA foreground sources To achieve this ambitious project the PI will use ongoing and upcoming sky surveys such as ZTF, BlackGEM, Gaia, Vera Rubin Observatory and SDSS-V combined with large-scale multiwavelength surveys. The large number of sky surveys combined with recent developments in data processing, including dense Galactic Plane regions makes this project very timely. The results will calibrate theoretical models for SN Ia, common envelope evolution and will help to find the optimal data analysis methods for LISA so that its mission requirements can be achieved. The PI will successfully lead this project because of his i) profound experience in large-scale sky-surveys, ii) proprietary data access to BlackGEM data and iii) direct involvement in multi-messenger projects for LISA.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences chemical sciences inorganic chemistry noble gases
- natural sciences physical sciences optics laser physics
- natural sciences physical sciences astronomy stellar astronomy supernova
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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(opens in new window) ERC-2022-STG
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20148 Hamburg
Germany
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