Related papers: Visual Observability of the Cassiopeia A Supernova
We have for the first time measured the overall expansion rate of the supernova remnant Cas A as seen in X-rays using ROSAT and Einstein HRI images with time differences up to almost 17 years. The overall expansion timescale of Cas A is…
Theoretical models predict that core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe) can be efficient dust producers (0.1-1.0 Msun), potentially accounting for most of the dust production in the early Universe. Observational evidence for this dust production…
SN 2008D was discovered while following up an unusually bright X-ray transient in the nearby spiral galaxy NGC 2770. We present early optical spectra (obtained 1.75 days after the X-ray transient) which allowed the first identification of…
Over a decade ago, a group of supernova explosions with peak luminosities far exceeding (often by >100) those of normal events, has been identified. These superluminous supernovae (SLSNe) have been a focus of intensive study. I review the…
The observation of neutrinos from Supernova 1987A has confirmed the theoretical conjecture that these particles play a crucial role during the collapse of the core of a massive star. Only one per cent of the energy they carry away from the…
We present the first results of an XMM-Newton observation of the central X-ray source in the Cas A supernova remnant. The spectrum can be fit equally well with an absorbed steep power law (alpha~3, N_H~1.5x10^22 cm^-2) or with a…
We present hydrodynamical models for the Cassiopeia A (Cas A) supernova remnant and its observed jet / counter-jet system. We include the evolution of the progenitor's circumstellar medium, which is shaped by a slow red supergiant wind that…
Supernovae of type Ia (SNeIa) can be produced by the explosion of slowly-rotating carbon-oxygen white dwarfs whose mass increases beyond a critical value by mass accretion. Collision with circumstellar material during their photospheric and…
This paper is dedicated to the discovery of one of the most important relationships in supernova cosmology - the relation between the peak luminosity of Type Ia supernovae and their luminosity decline rate after maximum light. The history…
Objects of known brightness, like Type Ia supernovae (SNIa), can be used to measure distances. If a massive object warps spacetime to form multiple images of a background SNIa, a direct test of cosmic expansion is also possible. However,…
The large quantities of dust that have been found in a number of high redshift galaxies have led to suggestions that core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe) are the main sources of their dust and have motivated the measurement of the dust masses…
Type II-P supernov\ae~(SNe), the most common core-collapse SNe type, result from the explosions of red supergiant stars. Their detection in the radio domain testifies of the presence of relativistic electrons, and shows that they are…
Recent observations have revealed that some Type Ia supernovae exhibit narrow, time-variable Na I D absorption features. The origin of the absorbing material is controversial, but it may suggest the presence of circumstellar gas in the…
I review the physical properties of pair-production supernovae (PPSNe) as well as the prospects for them to be constrained observationally. In very massive (140-260 solar mass) stars, much of the pressure support comes from the radiation…
Observations of the SNR Cassiopeia A (Cas A) show asymmetries in the reverse shock that cannot be explained by models describing a remnant expanding through a spherically symmetric wind of the progenitor star. We investigate whether a past…
The spatial and velocity distributions of nuclear species synthesized in the innermost regions of core-collapse supernovae can yield important clues about explosion asymmetries and the operation of the still disputed explosion mechanism.…
We calculate particle spectra and continuum photon emission from the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant (SNR). The particle spectra, ion and electron, result from diffusive shock acceleration at the forward SNR shock and are determined with a…
Type Ia supernovae (SN Ia) are generally believed to be the result of the thermonuclear disruption of Chandrasekhar-mass carbon-oxygen white dwarfs, mainly because such thermonuclear explosions can account for the right amount of nickel,…
It is widely believed that asphericity in the explosion is the crucial ingredient leading to successful core-collapse (CC) supernovae. However, direct observational evidence for the explosion geometry and for the connection with the…
A lot of beautiful observations of Supernova remnant 1987A give a precise idea of its structure and its evolution. The regular interpretations of the observations set that the large energy needed to explain the brightness of the pearl…