Related papers: Properties of Thorne-Zytkow object explosions
Observations and theory suggest that core-collapse supernovae can span a range of explosion energies, and when sub-energetic, the shockwave initiating the explosion can decelerate to speeds comparable to the escape speed of the progenitor.…
Type Ia supernovae, the thermonuclear explosions of white dwarf stars composed of carbon and oxygen, were instrumental as distance indicators in establishing the acceleration of the universe's expansion. However, the physics of the…
We show that accreting neutron stars in binary systems or in Landau-Thorne-Zytkow objects are good candidates for continuous gravitational wave emission. Their gravitational radiation is strong enough to be detected by the next generation…
I use photometry and spectroscopy data for 24 Type II plateau supernovae to examine their observed and physical properties. This dataset shows that these objects encompass a wide range of ~5 mag in their plateau luminosities, their…
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…
Binary star systems containing a neutron star or a black hole with an evolved, massive star are dynamically perturbed when the latter undergoes a supernova explosion. It is possible that the natal kick received by the newly-formed neutron…
Observations of Type I X-ray bursts have long been taken as evidence that the sources are neutron stars. Black body models approximate the spectral data and imply a suddenly heated neutron star cooling over characteristic times of seconds…
Extragalactic nuclear transients that exhibit repeating outbursts can be modeled as the repeated dynamical interaction between bound stars and supermassive black holes (SMBHs). A subset of these transients, with recurrence timescales of…
Neutron stars, with their strong surface gravity, have interestingly short timescales for the sedimentation of heavy elements. Recent observations of unstable thermonuclear burning (observed as X-ray bursts) on the surfaces of slowly…
The Type II gamma-ray burst (GRB) 200826A challenges collapsar models by questioning how they can generate a genuinely short-duration event. The other Type I GRB 211211A confused us with a kilonova signature observed in the afterglow of a…
Deep infrared and optical images are presented of three proposed remnants of Thorne-Zytkow Objects (TZO). In particular, the IR data go several infrared magnitudes deeper than previous observations and in at least one case reveal the…
We present a global linear stability analysis of nuclear fuel accumulating on the surface of an accreting neutron star and we identify the conditions under which thermonuclear bursts are triggered. The analysis reproduces all the recognized…
Most supernova explosions accompany the death of a massive star. These explosions give birth to neutron stars and black holes and eject solar masses of heavy elements. However, determining the mechanism of explosion has been a half-century…
Some fraction of the material ejected in a core collapse supernova explosion may remain bound to the compact remnant, and eventually turn around and fall back. We show that the late time (> days) power associated with the accretion of this…
Compact objects are expected to exist in the accretion disks of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in active galactic nuclei (AGNs), and in the presence of such a dense environment ($\sim 10^{14}\,{\rm cm^{-3}}$), they will form a new kind of…
When neutron stars accrete matter from a companion star, this matter forms a disc around them and eventually falls on their surface. Here, the fuel can ignite into bright flashes called Type I bursts. Theoretical calculations based on…
Spectroscopic detection of narrow emission lines traces the presence of circumstellar mass distributions around massive stars exploding as core-collapse supernovae. Transient emission lines disappearing shortly after the supernova explosion…
Accretion disks around compact objects are expected to enter an unstable phase at high luminosity. One instability may occur when the radiation pressure generated by accretion modifies the disk viscosity, resulting in the cyclic depletion…
Many distinct classes of high-energy variability have been observed in astrophysical sources, on a range of timescales. The widest range (spanning microseconds-decades) is found in accreting, stellar-mass compact objects, including neutron…
Assuming that the neutrino luminosity from the neutron star core is sufficiently high to drive supernova explosions by the neutrino-heating mechanism, we show that low-mode (l = 1, 2) convection can develop from random seed perturbations…