The National Science Foundation awarded a $396,651 Project Grant to the University of California, Berkeley under the Mathematical and Physical Sciences program (CFDA 47.049). The grant funds a collaborative research effort between Northwestern University and the University of Chicago to study Fast and Blue Optical Transients (FBOTs), a newly discovered class of astronomical events involving rapidly brightening stellar explosions believed to be powered by newly formed black holes or neutron stars.
The research team will observe approximately five FBOTs per year using NSF-funded astronomical survey telescopes to understand what types of stars produce FBOTs and how compact objects like neutron stars and black holes are formed. In addition, the grant supports educational outreach activities including providing research opportunities for underrepresented minority and women undergraduates, developing curricular materials on stellar explosions for Chicago-area high school teachers, and translating astronomical data into sound formats for visually impaired scientists and musicians. The goal is to shed light on the nature of FBOT stellar progenitors and gain insight into the formation process of compact objects.