Related papers: Thermonuclear (Type Ia) Supernovae and Progenitor …
Even at extragalactic distances, the shape of supernova ejecta can be effectively diagnosed by spectropolarimetry. We present here results for 17 Type Ia supernovae that allow a statistical study of the correlation among the geometric…
A notable feature of the two standard models for thermonuclear and core-collapse supernovae is that, although these two models are fundamentally different, the respective supernova types have quite similar rates and appearances. For…
Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) have been intensively investigated due to its great homogeneity and high luminosity, which make it possible to use them as standardizable candles for the determination of cosmological parameters. In 2011, the…
Despite decades of dedicated efforts there are still basic questions to answer with regard to Supernova progenitor systems and explosion mechanisms. In particular, in the last years a number of exceptionally bright objects and extremely…
We describe a research program to improve the understanding of Type Ia Supernovae (SNe Ia) by modeling and observing near infrared (NIR) spectra of these events. The NIR between 0.9 microns and 2.5 microns is optimal for examining certain…
Transient surveys have recently discovered a class of supernovae (SNe) with extremely rapidly declining light curves. These events are also often relatively faint, especially compared to Type Ia SNe. The common explanation for these events…
Thermonuclear supernovae are the result of the violent unbinding of a white dwarf, but the precise nature of the explosion mechanism(s) is a matter of active debate. To this end, several specific scenarios have been proposed to explain the…
Thermonuclear supernovae (SNe) are the result of the nuclear transformation of carbon/oxygen (C/O) white dwarfs (WDs) to the radioactive element $^{56}\mathrm{Ni}$ and intermediate mass elements (IMEs) like Ca, Ar, etc. Most progenitor…
Type Ia SNe (SNe Ia) are thought to come from carbon-oxygen white dwarfs that accrete mass from binary companions until they approach the Chandrasekhar limit, ignite carbon, and undergo complete thermonuclear disruption. A survey of the…
Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are thought to be thermonuclear explosion of white dwarfs (WDs). Their progenitors are not well understood. One popular scenario is the double-degenerate (DD) scenario, which attributes SNe Ia to WD-WD binary…
Despite intense scrutiny, the progenitor system(s) that gives rise to Type Ia supernovae remains unknown. The favored theory invokes a carbon-oxygen white dwarf accreting hydrogen-rich material from a close companion until a thermonuclear…
Models for the progenitor systems of Type Ia supernovae can be divided into double-degenerate systems, which contain two white dwarfs, and single-degenerate systems, which contain one white dwarf plus one companion star (either a red giant,…
The progenitors of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) have not been identified. Though they are no longer fashionable we investigate the consequences if a significant number of SNe Ia were edge-lit detonations (ELDs) of carbon/oxygen white dwarfs…
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…
Underluminous Thermonuclear Supernovae (uTSNe) are an emerging class of transient events that resemble classic Supernovae Type Ia, but peak at much lower luminosities. Suspected to be the deflagrations of white dwarfs, they directly link…
We present a summary of our understanding of Type Ia Supernova progenitors, mostly discussing the observational approach. The main goal of this review is to provide the non-specialist with a sufficiently comprehensive view of where we…
A special class of type Ia supernovae that is not subject to ordinary and additional intragalactic gray absorption and chemical evolution has been identified. Analysis of the Hubble diagrams constructed for these supernovae confirms the…
Photometry is the most easily acquired information about supernovae. The light curves constructed from regular imaging provide signatures not only for the energy input, the radiation escape, the local environment and the progenitor stars,…
We discuss recent evidence for an accelerating Universe from measurements of type Ia supernovae at high redshift, and describe tests of various systematic effects such as extinction and evolution that could be biasing the cosmological…
Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are thermonuclear explosions of white dwarf stars in close binary systems. They play an important role as cosmological distance indicators and have led to the discovery of the accelerated expansion of the…