Astrophysical transients and time domain astronomy

The study of astrophysical transients is key to understanding the final stages of single and binary stars, which in turn is connected with the progenitors of gravitational wave sources. This topic is becoming of growing importance worldwide. 

The start of operations of new public time-domain surveys is providing hundreds of new astrophysical transients per day, and these numbers are only expected to grow within the next decade, as new large surveys will start to operate. This opens new opportunities to study the most energetic astrophysical phenomena in the Universe, such as novae, magnetar flares, ultra-luminous X-ray sources, supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, kilonovae, stellar mergers, or tidal disruption events. 

The study of astrophysical transients is an emerging field of research in Spain. The goal of this SEA Special session is to provide national and international visibility of astrophysical transients’ research in Spain and create new synergies between the teams.