Research project Zwicky Transient Facility – searching for cosmic explosions
The ZTF project uses a robotic telescope on Palomar in California to search for cosmic explosions like supernovae (exploding stars) or kilonovae (colliding neutronstars). Several groups at the Department of Astronomy and the Department of Physics use these data to understand supernova physics, cosmology or the creation of the heavy elements in the universe.
Within the ZTF project astronomers and physicists at Stockholm University participate in several science areas, all connected to research being done at the Oskar Klein Centre.
Many in the Department of Physics Cosmology group use the discovered Type Ia supernovae for investigating the expansion rate of the Universe. There is also a keen interest in finding gravitationally lensed supernovae with ZTF.
At the Department of Astronomy, the supernova group investigates what stars explode as what kinds of supernovae, and what is powering these distant stellar explosions. Superluminous supernovae and other rare events are studied in detail.
In recent years, a great interest in multiwavelength astrophysics has also emerged, and members of the ZTF Stockholm team are eager to find the next kilonova connected to gravitational waves. In this effort we work together with theoretical groups and also use ZTF to plan ahead for the next generation of transient astronomy with the LSST.
Project members
Project managers
Jesper Sollerman
Professor
Ariel Marcelo Goobar
Professor
Members
Jesper Sollerman
Professor
Ragnhild Lunnan
Assistant Professor
Janet Ting-Wan Chen
Guest researcher
Claes Fransson
Adjungerad professor
Anamaria Gkini
PhD
Tassilo Magnus Schweyer
PhD student
Sheng Yang
Guest researcher
Ariel Marcelo Goobar
Professor
Steve Schulze
Forskare
Nikki Arendse
Postdoktor
Joel Pearson Johansson
Researcher
Ana Sagués Carracedo
Doktorand
William D Arcy Kenworthy
Postdoc