Related papers: Around the Pair Instability Valley - Massive SN Pr…
The massive star which underwent core-collapse to produce SN1993J was identified as a non-variable red supergiant star in images of the galaxy M81 taken before explosion. However the stellar source showed an excess in UV and B-band colours…
Supernovae (SNe) that show evidence of strong shock interaction between their ejecta and pre-existing, slower circumstellar material (CSM) constitute an interesting, diverse, and still poorly understood category of explosive transients. The…
Almost since the beginning, massive stars and their resultant supernovae have played a crucial role in the Universe. These objects produce tremendous amounts of energy and new, heavy elements that enrich galaxies, encourage new stars to…
We present extensive ugrizYHJK photometry and optical spectroscopy of SN 2005gj obtained by the SDSS-II and CSP Supernova Projects, which give excellent coverage during the first 150 days after the time of explosion. These data show that SN…
Pair-instability supernovae (PISNe) are predicted thermonuclear explosions of massive stars with helium core masses exceeding $\sim 65M_\odot$ and synthesize substantial amounts of radioactive $\mathrm{^{56}Ni}$…
The Type IIn supernovae (SNe IIn) have been found to be associated with significant amounts of dust. These core-collapse events are generally expected to be the final stage in the evolution of highly-massive stars, either while in an…
We present new spectroscopic and photometric data of the type Ibn supernovae 2006jc, 2000er and 2002ao. We discuss the general properties of this recently proposed supernova family, which also includes SN 1999cq. The early-time monitoring…
The type IIn SN 1998S is one of the most remarkable core-collapse supernovae ever observed. It underwent a complex interaction with a substantial circumstellar medium, resulting in radiation at wavelengths from radio to X-rays. IR and…
The inevitable fate of massive stars in the initial mass range of ~8--30 M_{Sun} in the red supergiant (RSG) phase is a core-collapse supernova (SN) explosion, although some stars may collapse directly to a black hole. We know that this is…
Superluminous supernovae are a new class of supernovae that were recognized about a decade ago. Both observational and theoretical progress has been significant in the last decade. In this review, we first briefly summarize the…
Massive stars evolve toward the catastrophic collapse of their innermost core, producing core-collapse supernova (SN) explosions as the end products. White dwarfs, formed through evolution of the less massive stars, also explode as…
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…
Core-Collapse supernovae arise from stars greater than 8 $\msun$. These stars lose a considerable amount of mass during their lifetime, which accumulates around the star forming wind-blown bubbles. Upon the death of the star in a…
The recent discovery of the unusual supernova SN1998bw and its apparent correlation with the gamma-ray burst GRB 980425 has raised new issues concerning both the GRB and SNe. SN1998bw was unusually bright at maximum light and expansion…
Stars with masses in the range 7-10Msun end their lives either as massive white dwarfs or weak type II supernovae, and there are only limited observational constraints of either channel. Here we report the detection of two white dwarfs with…
Observations of Type Ia supernovae (SN~Ia) combined with modeling of dynamics, light curves and spectra continue to point to the difficult conclusion that SN~Ia result from degenerate ignition in a carbon/oxygen white dwarf of the…
We study the evolution of heavy stars ($M\ge40{\rm M}_\odot$) undergoing pair-instability in the presence of annihilating dark matter. Focusing on the scenario where the dark matter is in capture-annihilation equilibrium, we model the…
We discuss the mass ranges over which we find AGB and super-AGB stars. The most massive super-AGB stars are candidate progenitors for type II core-collapse SNe. We discuss the two supernovae, SN1980K and SN2003gd that provide some…
We present optical photometry and spectroscopy of SN2005ip for the first 3yr after discovery, showing an underlying Type II-L SN interacting with a steady wind to yield an unusual Type IIn spectrum. For the first 160d, it had a fast linear…
Much uncertainty surrounds the origin of super-luminous supernovae (SNe). Motivated by the discovery of the Type Ic SN2007bi, we study its proposed association with a pair-instability SN (PISN). We compute stellar-evolution models for…