arXiv subjects

Steven Shore

Publications and source records attributed to Steven Shore.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Dynamical binary interactions in the 2040s

Dynamical binary interactions such as common envelope (CE) evolution or stellar mergers are a critical phase in the formation of a wide variety of binary phenomena, ranging from blue stragglers to type I supernovae (of all flavours, a, b and c), $\gamma$-ray bursts to bipolar planetary nebulae, Thorne-Zytkow objects to X-ray binaries. In 2040s, the urgency of resolving long-standing questions regarding the physics behind the dynamical interaction stages and the absolute and relative frequencies of binary evolutionary pathways will only increase owing to rapidly expanding population statistics of gravitational wave events. Here, we argue that multi-wavelength observations (spectroscopy and photometry), linear spectropolarimetry, and interferometry of a large number of Luminous Red Novae, a particular class of transients associated with dynamical binary interactions, will provide unprecedented details about the underlying interaction physics. A breakthrough will be achieved by a tenfold or larger increase in identifications of transient-type events from interacting binaries and their follow-up with instrumentation that provides at least 10 times better angular resolution, 100 times better spectral resolution, and $\sim$100 times higher sensitivity than 2030s facilities.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2019

Closing gaps to our origins. The UV window into the Universe

The investigation of the emergence of life is a major endeavour of science. Astronomy is contributing to it in three fundamental manners: (1) by measuring the chemical enrichment of the Universe, (2) by investigating planet formation and searching for exoplanets with signatures of life and, (3) by determining the abundance of aminoacids and the chemical routes to aminoacid and protein growth in astronomical bodies. This proposal deals with the first two. In the Voyage to 2050, the world-wide scientific community is getting equipped with large facilities for the investigation of the emergence of life in the Universe (i.e. VLT, JWST, ELT, GMT, TMT, ALMA, FAST, VLA, ATHENA, SKA) including the ESA's CHEOPS, PLATO and ARIEL missions. This white paper is a community effort to call for the development of a large ultraviolet optical observatory to gather fundamental data for this investigation that will not be accessible through other ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum. A versatile space observatory with UV sensitivity a factor of 50-100 greater than existing facilities will revolutionize our understanding of the pathway to life in the Universe.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2013

Building galaxies, stars, planets and the ingredients for life between the stars. A scientific proposal for a European Ultraviolet-Visible Observatory (EUVO)

The growth of luminous structures and the building blocks of life in the Universe began as primordial gas was processed in stars and mixed at galactic scales. The mechanisms responsible for this development are not well understood and have changed over the intervening 13 billion years. To follow the evolution of matter over cosmic time, it is necessary to study the strongest (resonance) transitions of the most abundant species in the Universe. Most of them are in the ultraviolet (UV; 950A-3000A) spectral range that is unobservable from the ground. A versatile space observatory with UV sensitivity a factor of 50-100 greater than existing facilities will revolutionize our understanding of the Universe. Habitable planets grow in protostellar discs under ultraviolet irradiation, a by-product of the star-disk interaction that drives the physical and chemical evolution of discs and young planetary systems. The electronic transitions of the most abundant molecules are pumped by the UV field, providing unique diagnostics of the planet-forming environment that cannot be accessed from the ground. Earth's atmosphere is in constant interaction with the interplanetary medium and the solar UV radiation field. A 50-100 times improvement in sensitivity would enable the observation of the key atmospheric ingredients of Earth-like exoplanets (carbon, oxygen, ozone), provide crucial input for models of biologically active worlds outside the solar system, and provide the phenomenological baseline to understand the Earth atmosphere in context. In this white paper, we outline the key science that such a facility would make possible and outline the instrumentation to be implemented.

astro-ph.IM↗