PI: Nadia Zakamska (Physics and Astronomy)

Co-I: Tamás Budavári (Applied Mathematics and Statistics)

One of the most enduring mysteries of modern astrophysics is that of the origin of type Ia supernovae, the cosmological standard candles used in measuring the geometry of the universe. The most likely scenario is that type Ia supernovae arise as a result of a merger of two white dwarfs — compact remnants of evolution of stars like our Sun — but no candidate progenitors have yet been discovered. In this program, we will develop the necessary machine-learning tools to discover white dwarf binaries in emerging spectroscopic, photometric and astrometric datasets. This project has potential for a breakthrough in the long-standing search for type Ia progenitors.