Speaker
Description
Precise measurements of nuclear line emissions have revealed the nature of ongoing chemical enrichment in the Milky Way. Observations of $^{56}$Ni, $^{44}$Ti, and $^{26}$Al have provided unique insights into the dynamics of supernova explosions and the flow of material in the interstellar medium. With a scheduled launch in 2027, the Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI) will offer new potential to push these frontiers. COSI will create all-sky maps in the 0.2–5 MeV bandpass with unprecedented flux sensitivity and high spectral resolution. It will provide the first galactic map of $^{60}$Fe, resolve finer structures of $^{26}$Al, and continue the quest to uncover hidden supernova remnants. To maximize COSI’s spectral and imaging returns, increasingly realistic simulations and pipeline development efforts are underway. Characterizing and mitigating the impact of a harsh space radiation environment is especially crucial to maximize COSI’s inflight performance. In this talk, I will present an overview of the nucleosynthesis science enabled by COSI, the advances we can expect, the status of our data simulations and analysis pipeline, and the big challenges on our way toward deeper, all-sky surveys with COSI.
| Career stage | Graduate student |
|---|