Related papers: Near-Earth Supernova Explosions: Evidence, Implica…
The discovery of dark energy by the first generation of high-redshift supernova surveys has generated enormous interest beyond cosmology and has dramatic implications for fundamental physics. Distance measurements using supernova explosions…
Measurements of long-lived radioisotopes provide a means, completely independent of other observational channels, to draw conclusions about near-Earth supernovae (SNe) and thus the origin of the Local Bubble (LB). First and foremost in this…
The Earth sits inside a 300pc-wide void that was carved by a series of supernova explosions that went off tens of millions of years ago, pushing away interstellar gas and creating a bubble-like structure. The $^{60}$Fe peak deposits found…
Massive stars are a major source of chemical elements in the cosmos, ejecting freshly produced nuclei through winds and core-collapse supernova explosions into the interstellar medium. Among the material ejected, long lived radioisotopes,…
Nearby supernova explosions may cause geological isotope anomalies via the direct deposition of debris or by cosmic-ray spallation in the earth's atmosphere. We estimate the mass of material deposited terrestrially by these two mechanisms,…
Firestone (2014) asserted evidence for numerous (23) nearby (d<300 pc) supernovae within the Middle and Late Pleistocene. If true, this would have strong implications for the irradiation of the Earth; at this rate, mass extinction level…
Traces of 2-3 Myr old 60Fe were recently discovered in a manganese crust and in lunar samples. We have found that this signal is extended in time and is present in globally distributed deep-sea archives. A second 6.5-8.7 Myr old signature…
Massive stars, which terminate their evolution as core collapse supernovae, are theoretically predicted to eject more than 1E-5 solar masses of the radioisotope 60Fe. If such an event occurs sufficiently close to our solar system, traces of…
There is a wealth of data on live, undecayed 60Fe ($t_{1/2} = 2.6 \ \rm Myr$) in deep-sea deposits, the lunar regolith, cosmic rays, and Antarctic snow, which is interpreted as originating from the recent explosions of at least two…
If the Sun was born in a relatively compact open cluster, it is quite likely that a massive (10MSun) star was nearby when it exploded in a supernova. The repercussions of a supernova can be rather profound, and the current Solar System may…
The extreme luminosity and their fairly unique temporal behaviour have made supernovae a superb tool to measure distances in the universe. As complex astrophysical events they provide interesting insights into explosion physics, explosive…
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 lunar geological record is expected to contain a rich record of the galactic environment of the Solar System, including records of nearby (i.e. less than a few tens of parsecs) supernova explosions. This record will be composed of two…
Recently, 60Fe was found in the Earth crust formed in a nearby recent supernova (SN). If the distance to the SN and mass of the progenitor of that SN was known, then one could constrain SN models. Knowing the positions, proper motions, and…
The unstable isotope $^{60}$Fe, with a half-life of 2.6 million years, is produced primarily in supernova explosions. The observed presence of $^{60}$Fe in cosmic rays and its detection in deep-sea crusts and sediments suggest two possible…
Brief (less than 100 years) rapid-increase anomalies in the Earth's atmospheric radiocarbon production have previously been attributed to either gamma photon radiation from supernovae or to cosmic ray particle radiation from exceptionally…
A brief summary of some highlights in the study of high energy astrophysical sources over the past decade is presented. It is argued that the great progress that has been made derives largely from the application of new technology to…
Supernova explosions are among the most energetic phenomena in the known universe. There are suggestions that cosmic rays up to EeV energies might be accelerated in the young supernova shell on time scales of a few weeks to years, which…
We have reevaluated recent studies of the effects on Earth by cosmic rays (CRs) from nearby supernovae (SNe) at 100 and 50 pc, in the diffusive transport CR case, here including an early-time suppression at lower CR energies neglected in…
Many aspects of the progenitor systems, environments, and explosion dynamics of the various subtypes of supernovae are difficult to investigate at extragalactic distances where they are observed as unresolved sources. Alternatively, young…