Related papers: A Common Explosion Mechanism for Type Ia Supernova…
Context: Superluminous type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) may be explained by super-Chandrasekhar-mass explosions of rapidly rotating white dwarfs (WDs). In a preceding paper, we showed that the deflagration scenario applied to rapidly rotating…
Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are thermonuclear runaways in certain white dwarfs in binary systems. They have been extensively studied, yet their progenitor and explosion mechanisms remain poorly understood. We study a large sample of SNe Ia…
Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are likely the thermonuclear explosions of carbon-oxygen white-dwarf stars, but their progenitor systems remain elusive. A few theoretical scenarios for the progenitor systems have been suggested, which have been…
The nature of Type Ia Supernova (SN Ia) explosions remains an open issue, with several contending progenitor scenarios actively being considered. One such scenario involves a SN Ia explosion inside a planetary nebula (PN) in the aftermath…
Observations of type Ia supernovae include information about the characteristic nucleosynthesis associated with these thermonuclear explosions. We consider observational constraints from iron-group elemental and isotopic ratios, to compare…
Thermonuclear, or Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia), originate from the explosion of carbon--oxygen white dwarfs, and serve as standardizable cosmological candles. However, despite their importance, the nature of the progenitor systems that give…
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…
SN 2009dc shares similarities with normal Type Ia supernovae, but is clearly overluminous, with a (pseudo-bolometric) peak luminosity of log(L) = 43.47 [erg/s]. Its light curves decline slowly over half a year after maximum light, and the…
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…
Ongoing transient surveys are presenting an unprecedented account of the rising lightcurves of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia). This early emission probes the shallowest layers of the exploding white dwarf, which can provide constraints on the…
(Abridged) The presence of unburned material in the ejecta of normal Type Ia supernovae (SNeIa) is investigated using early-time spectroscopy obtained by the CSP. The tell-tale signature of pristine material from a C+O white dwarf…
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…
The observable properties of a Type Ia supernova are sensitive to how the nuclear runaway ignites in a Chandrasekhar mass white dwarf - at a single point at its center, off-center, or at multiple points and times. We present a simple…
The mode of explosive burning in Type Ia SNe remains an outstanding problem. It is generally thought to begin as a subsonic deflagration, but this may transition into a supersonic detonation (the DDT). We argue that this transition leads to…
Type Ia supernovae are generally thought to be due to the thermonuclear explosions of carbon-oxygen white dwarfs with masses near the Chandrasekhar mass. This scenario, however, has two long-standing problems. First, the explosions do not…
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…
A detailed spectroscopic analysis of SN 1986G has been performed. SN 1986G `bridges the gap' between normal and sub luminous type Ia supernova (SNe Ia). The abundance tomography technique is used to determine the abundance distribution of…
Empirically, Type Ia supernovae are the most useful, precise, and mature tools for determining astronomical distances. Acting as calibrated candles they revealed the presence of dark energy and are being used to measure its properties.…
The abundance distribution of the elements in the ejecta of the peculiar, luminous Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) 1991T is obtained modelling spectra from before maximum light until a year after the explosion, with the method of "Abundance…
The use of type Ia supernovae as distance indicators for cosmology has initiated a search for theoretical arguments supporting the empirical calibration methods applied. To this end, as a first step, a sound understanding of the origin of…