Related papers: Fingerprints of a Local Supernova
A key question in astronomy is how ubiquitous Earth-like rocky planets are. The formation of terrestrial planets in our solar system was strongly influenced by the radioactive decay heat of short-lived radionuclides (SLRs), particularly…
The discovery that the short-lived radionucleide iron-60 was present in the oldest meteorites suggests that the formation of the Earth closely followed the death of a massive star. I discuss three astrophysical origins: winds from an AGB…
The latest finding by Hester et al. supports the view of ". . . iron cores of the inner planets, iron meteorites, and the core of the sun as likely condensation products from the supernova core." [Science 195, 209 (14 January 1977)]
Recent observations of solar twin stars with planetary systems like the Sun, have uncovered that these present a peculiar surface chemical composition. This is believed to be related to the formation of earth-like planets. This suggests…
Supernovae (SNe) are thought to arise from two different physical processes. The cores of massive, short-lived stars undergo gravitational core collapse and typically eject a few solar masses during their explosion. These are thought to…
How are the heavy elements formed? This has been a key open question in physics for decades. Recent direct detections of neutron star mergers and observations of evolved stars show signatures of chemical elements in the blue range of their…
If Jupiter and the Sun both formed directly from the same well-mixed proto-solar nebula, then their atmospheric compositions should be similar. However, direct sampling of Jupiter's troposphere indicates that it is enriched in elements such…
Recent results have strongly confirmed that multiple supernovae happened at distances ~100 pc consisting of two main events: one at 1.7 to 3.2 million years ago, and the other at 6.5 to 8.7 million years ago. These events are said to be…
This review provides an introduction to the generation and evolution of the Sun's magnetic field, summarising both observational evidence and theoretical models. The eleven year solar cycle, which is well known from a variety of observed…
Super-Earths and sub-Neptunes represent the most common class of exoplanets discovered to date in our galaxy, yet they have no direct analogues in the Solar System. Since 2014, researchers within the NCCR PlanetS have made significant…
Supernovae release an enormous amount of energy into the interstellar medium. Their remnants can observationally be traced up to several ten-thousand years. So far more than 230 Galactic supernova remnants (SNRs) have been identified in the…
The sun and core-collapse supernovae produce neutrino spectra that are sensitive to the effects of masses and mixing. Current results from solar neutrino experiments provide perhaps our best evidence for such new neutrino physics, beyond…
Massive stars end their short lives in spectacular explosions, supernovae, that synthesize new elements and drive galaxy evolution. Throughout history supernovae were discovered chiefly through their delayed optical light, preventing…
The presence of quark matter in neutron star interiors may have distinctive signatures in basic observables such as (i) masses and radii [1], (ii) surface temperatures versus age [2], (iii) spin-down rates of milli-second pulsars [3], and…
The image of planetary nebulae (PN), supernova remnant (SNR) and Eta-Carinae is made by three different physical processes. The first process is the expansion of the shell that can be modeled by the canonical laws of motion in the spherical…
A suite of detectors around the world is poised to measure the flavor-energy-time evolution of the ten-second burst of neutrinos from a core-collapse supernova occurring in the Milky Way or nearby. Next-generation detectors to be built in…
I discuss the possibility that the large-scale segregation of metals that accompanied planet formation might have left an imprint on the composition of the primordial Sun. Motivated in part by recent Borexino measurements of CN solar…
Almost 30 years have passed since the successful detection of supernova neutrinos from SN 1987A. In the last decades, remarkable progress has been made in neutrino detection technique, through which it may be possible to detect neutrinos…
A nearby supernova will carry an unprecedented wealth of information about astrophysics, nuclear physics, and particle physics. Because supernova are fundamentally neutrino driven phenomenon, our knowledge about neutrinos -- particles that…
The explosion of a supernova releases almost instantaneously about 10^51 ergs of mechanic energy, changing irreversibly the physical and chemical properties of large regions in the galaxies. The stellar ejecta, the nebula resulting from the…