Related papers: Superluminous supernovae: an explosive decade
With the advent of large, deep surveys, the observation of a strongly gravitationally lensed supernova becomes increasingly likely. High-redshift surveys continue apace, with a handful of type Ia supernovae observed to date at redshifts of…
It has been noted at times that the rate of energy release in the most violent explosive events in the Universe, such as supernovae and gamma-ray bursts, rivals the stellar luminosity of the observable universe, Lstar. The underlying reason…
The discovery of cosmic acceleration is one of the most important developments in modern cosmology. The observation, thirteen years ago, that type Ia supernovae appear dimmer that they would have been in a decelerating universe followed by…
It is generally argued that the present cosmological observations support the accelerating models of the universe, as driven by the cosmological constant or `dark energy'. We argue here that an alternative model of the universe is possible…
Supernovae are among the most powerful and influential explosions in the universe. They are also ideal multi-messenger laboratories to study extreme astrophysics. However, many fundamental properties of supernovae related to their diverse…
This review discusses the current status of supermassive black hole research, as seen from a purely observational standpoint. Since the early '90s, rapid technological advances, most notably the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the…
The hypothesis that the speed of light decreases by nearly 2 cm per sec and per year is discussed within the frame of a simple phenomenological model. It is shown that this hypothesis can provide an alternative explanation for the…
Type Ia supernovae have become an indispensable tool for studying the expansion history of the universe, yet our understanding of the explosion mechanism is still incomplete. We describe the variety of discussed scenarios, sketch the most…
A brief pedagogical review for students on basic physics of Superluminous Supernovae. Almost no references to literature are given, but important formulas are derived in some detail.
Betelgeuse is the nearest red supergiant, one of the brightest stars in our sky, and statistically speaking it would be expected to be "typical". Yet it exhibits many features that seem "curious", to say the least. For instance it has a…
Distant supernovae can now be detected routinely. To date 34 supernovae at $z > 0.1$ have been discovered. Among them are 12 Type~Ia supernovae confirmed spectroscopically and suited to measure the cosmic deceleration when appropriately…
Type Ia supernovae are a powerful cosmological probe, that gave the first strong evidence that the expansion of the universe is accelerating. Here we provide an overview of how supernovae can go further to reveal information about what is…
When a star passes within the tidal radius of a supermassive black hole, it will be torn apart. For a star with the mass of the Sun ($M_\odot$) and a non-spinning black hole with a mass $<10^8 M_\odot$, the tidal radius lies outside the…
A number of unsolved problems and open questions about the nature and the properties of supernovae are identified and briefly discussed. Some suggestions and directions toward possible solutions are also considered.
Supernova explosions are one of the most energetic--and potentially lethal--phenomena in the Universe. Scientists have speculated for decades about the possible consequences for life on Earth of a nearby supernova, but plausible candidates…
During the last few years a class of enigmatic sub-luminous accreting neutron stars has been found in our Galaxy. They have peak X-ray luminosities (2-10 keV) of a few times 1E34 erg/s to a few times 1E35 erg/s, and both persistent and…
Type Ia supernovae are bright stellar explosions distinguished by standardizable light curves that allow for their use as distance indicators for cosmological studies. Despite their highly successful use in this capacity, the progenitors of…
Neutron stars are some of the densest manifestations of massive objects in the universe. They are ideal astrophysical laboratories for testing theories of dense matter physics and provide connections among nuclear physics, particle physics…
We report the discovery of ASASSN-15lh (SN 2015L), which we interpret as the most luminous supernova yet found. At redshift z = 0.2326, ASASSN-15lh reached an absolute magnitude of M_{u,AB} = -23.5+/-0.1 and bolometric luminosity L_bol =…
Supernovae of Type IIn (narrow line) appear to be explosions that had strong mass loss before the event, so that the optical luminosity is powered by the circumstellar interaction. If the mass loss region has an optical depth $>c/v_s$,…