Aya works on X-ray astronomy at the University of Tokyo, Japan, as an associate professor. Her main interest is studying thermal and non-thermal properties of supernova remnants, which distribute heavy elements and cosmic rays into the interstellar space, or, in other words, create the diverseness of the Universe.
The most recent work is examining the explosion isotropy of the remnants using Hitomi SXS spectroscopy and Chandra imaging spectroscopy. Aya also works on the measurement of cosmic ray acceleration/escape efficiency on shocks of supernova remnants.
In Athena, Aya really loves beautiful X-ray images of supernova remnants, which contains not only “the end of a world” but also “the beginning of the story for the next generation stars”.
Link to the PDF version.
Image: A new Chandra image of SN 1006 provides new details about the remains of an exploded star. This explosion was witnessed from Earth over a millennium ago. SN 1006 belongs to a class of supernova used to measure the expansion of the Universe.