Related papers: Pulsational pair instability as an explanation for…
SN 2006gy radiated far more energy in visual light than any other supernova so far, and potential explanations for its energy demands have implications for galactic chemical evolution and the deaths of the first stars. It remained bright…
It has been theoretically predicted many decades ago that extremely massive stars that develop large oxygen cores will become dynamically unstable, due to electron-positron pair production. The collapse of such oxygen cores leads to…
The discovery of the extremely luminous supernova SN 2006gy, possibly interpreted as a pair instability supernova, renewed the interest in very massive stars. We explore the evolution of these objects, which end their life as pair…
The most luminous Supernova SN2006gy (more than a 100 times brighter than a typical supernova) has been a challenge to explain by standard models. For example, pair instability supernovae which are luminous enough seem to have too slow a…
Supernova 2006gy in the galaxy NGC 1260 is the most luminous one recorded \cite{2006CBET..644....1Q, 2006CBET..647....1H, 2006CBET..648....1P, 2006CBET..695....1F}. Its progenitor might have been a very massive ($>100$ \msun) star…
Massive stars that end their lives with helium cores in the range of 35 to 65 Msun are known to produce repeated thermonuclear outbursts due to a recurring pair-instability. In some of these events, solar masses of material are ejected in…
The discovery of the extremely luminous supernova SN 2006gy, possibly interpreted as a pair instability supernova, renewed the interest in very massive stars. We explore the evolution of these objects, which end their life as pair…
Super-luminous supernovae that radiate more than 10^44 ergs per second at their peak luminosity have recently been discovered in faint galaxies at redshifts of 0.1-4. Some evolve slowly, resembling models of 'pair-instability' supernovae.…
The extremely luminous supernova SN2006gy is explained in the same way as other SNIIn events: light is produced by a radiative shock propagating in a dense circumstellar envelope formed by a previous weak explosion. The problems in the…
Supernovae explosions of massive stars are nowadays believed to result from a two-step process, with an initial gravitational core collapse followed by an expansion of matter after a bouncing on the core. This scenario meets several…
Very massive stars are radiation pressure dominated. Before running out of viable nuclear fuel, they can reach a thermodynamic state where electron-positron pair-production robs them of radiation support, triggering their collapse.…
Stars with initial masses 10 M_{solar} < M_{initial} < 100 M_{solar} fuse progressively heavier elements in their centres, up to inert iron. The core then gravitationally collapses to a neutron star or a black hole, leading to an explosion…
Interactions between massive stars in binaries are thought to be responsible for much of the observed diversity of supernovae. As surveys probe rarer populations of events, we should expect to see supernovae arising from increasingly…
Growing theoretical evidence suggests that the first generation of stars may have been quite massive (~100-300 solar masses). If they retain their high mass until death, such stars will, after about 3Myr, make pair-instability supernovae.…
The discovery of a population of superluminous supernovae (SLSNe), with peak luminosities a factor of ~100 brighter than normal SNe (typically SLSNe have M_V <-21), has shown an unexpected diversity in core-collapse supernova properties.…
Superluminous supernovae are among the most energetic stellar explosions in the Universe, but their energy sources remain an open question. Here we present long-term observations of one of the closest examples of the hydrogen-poor subclass…
While the modern stellar IMF shows a rapid decline with increasing mass, theoretical investigations suggest that very massive stars (>100 solar masses) may have been abundant in the early universe. Other calculations also indicate that,…
When a binary star system is tidally disrupted by a supermassive black hole at a galactic nucleus, one star is ejected at a high speed while the other remains in a tightly bound orbit around the black hole. The cluster of tightly bound…
For the initial mass range (140 < M < 260 Msun) stars die in a thermonuclear runaway triggered by the pair-production instability. The supernovae they make can be remarkably energetic (up to ~10^53 ergs) and synthesize considerable amounts…
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…