From stellar hugs to stardust Unraveling Cosmic Love Stories with LSST

Professor: Floor Broekgaarden

Description: 

Common envelope (CE) phases, where stars in a binary share an envelope, is crucial for bringing wide stellar binaries closer together.These stellar “hugs” are expected to result in a spectacular observable transients: Red Luminous Novae, which will be rapidly discovered with LSST in the next years. 

Here we will study using a combination of theoretical models and back of the envelope derivations what we can learn from these red novae observations about CE phases, their progenitors, and how CE plays a role in producing tight binaries such as binary neutron star mergers. This will be in collaboration (co-advisors) with LSST red novae experts.

Preferred Qualifications: N/A