Related papers: Supernovae and Their Massive Star Progenitors
I present an overview of optical observations (mostly spectra) of Type II, Ib, and Ic supernovae (SNe). SNe II are defined by the presence of hydrogen, and exhibit a very wide variety of properties. SNe II-L tend to show evidence of…
Generally accepted scheme distinguishes two main classes of supernovae (SNe): Ia resulting from the old stellar population (deflagration of a white dwarf in close binary systems), and SNe of type II and Ib/c whose ancestors are young…
Knowledge of the progenitors of core-collapse supernovae is a fundamental component in understanding the explosions. The recent progress in finding such stars is reviewed. The minimum initial mass that can produce a supernova has converged…
Identifying the massive progenitor stars that give rise to core-collapse supernovae (SNe) is one of the main pursuits of supernova and stellar evolution studies. Using ground-based images of recent, nearby SNe obtained primarily with KAIT,…
I present an overview of optical observations (mostly spectra) of Type II supernovae. SNe II are defined by the presence of hydrogen, and exhibit a very wide variety of properties. SNe II-L tend to show evidence of late-time interaction…
I review recent optical observations of supernovae (SNe) conducted by my group. The Lick Observatory Supernova Search with the 0.76-m Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope is currently the world's most successful search for nearby SNe. We…
Core-collapse Supernovae (CC-SNe) descend from progenitors more massive than about 8 Msun. Because of the young age of the progenitors, the ejecta may eventually interact with the circumstellar medium (CSM) via highly energetic processes…
Type Ic supernovae (SNe Ic) are a sub-class of core-collapse supernovae that exhibit no helium or hydrogen lines in their spectra. Their progenitors are thought to be bare carbon-oxygen cores formed during the evolution of massive stars…
Core-collapse supernovae (SNe) of Types Ib and Ic arise from hydrogen-stripped stars, while the latter are also stripped of their helium. Both SN types have a similar temporal evolution, suggesting broadly similar progenitors. However,…
Type IIn supernovae (SNe IIn) are hydrogen-rich explosions embedded in dense circumstellar medium (CSM), which gives rise to their characteristic narrow hydrogen emission lines. The nature of their progenitors and pre-explosion mass loss…
The progenitors of hydrogen-poor core-collapse supernovae (SNe) of types Ib, Ic and IIb are believed to have shed their outer hydrogen envelopes either by extremely strong stellar winds, characteristic of classical Wolf-Rayet stars, or by…
We analyse observed fractions of core-collapse SN types from the Lick Observatory SN Search, and we discuss corresponding implications for massive star evolution. For a standard IMF, observed fractions of SN types cannot be reconciled with…
All types of supernovae (SNe), except Type Ia, have been observed to interact with their immediate circumstellar medium (CSM). This interaction can reveal their progenitor's histories, and constrain our ideas about the evolution of massive…
The properties of supernovae (SNe) are reviewed. It is shown that the observed characteristics of the morphological classes of SNe (types Ia, Ib/c, II) can be explained in terms of two basic explosion mechanisms, i.e. core collapse of…
We present observational constraints on the nature of the different core-collapse supernova types through an investigation of the association of their explosion sites with recent star formation, as traced by H-alpha +[NII] line emission. We…
I summarize what we have learned about the nature of stars that ultimately explode as core-collapse supernovae from the examination of images taken prior to the explosion. By registering pre-supernova and post-supernova images, usually…
The progenitors of low-luminosity Type II-Plateau supernovae (SNe II-P) are believed to be red supergiant (RSG) stars, but there is much disparity in the literature concerning their mass at core collapse and therefore on the main sequence.…
We searched through roughly 12 years of archival survey data acquired by the Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope (KAIT) as part of the Lick Observatory Supernova Search (LOSS) in order to detect or place limits on possible progenitor…
Core-collapse supernovae are explosions of massive stars at the end of their evolution. They are responsible for metal production and for halting star formation, having a significant impact on galaxy evolution. The details of these…
Core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe) are the explosions of massive stars following the collapse of the stars' iron cores. Poznanski (2013) has recently suggested an observational correlation between the ejecta velocities and the inferred masses…