Related papers: Polarization of SN 1987A Revisited
Type IIP supernovae (SNe IIP) often show relatively high continuum polarization ($\sim 1$\%) in the late phase. This polarization feature is generally believed to be due to an inner aspherical core revealed in the late phase, while this…
Polarization has been detected at early times for all types of supernova, indicating that such systems result from or quickly develop some form of asymmetry. In addition, the detection of strong line polarization in supernovae is suggestive…
Optical polarimetry is an effective way of probing the environment of supernova for dust. We acquired linear HST ACS/WFC polarimetry in bands $F475W$, $F606W$, and $F775W$ of the supernova (SN) 2014J in M82 at six epochs from $\sim$277 days…
Type IIP supernovae (SNe IIP) are the most common class of core-collapse SNe. They often show rapid increase of polarization degree in the late phase. This time evolution is generally believed to originate from the emergence of an inner…
An important and perhaps critical clue to the mechanism driving the explosion of massive stars as supernovae is provided by the accumulating evidence for asymmetry in the explosion. Indirect evidence comes from high pulsar velocities,…
We present multi-epoch spectropolarimetry and spectra for a sample of 14 Type IIn supernovae (SNe IIn). We find that after correcting for likely interstellar polarization, SNe IIn commonly show intrinsic continuum polarization of 1--3% at…
Aims: The aim of this paper is twofold: 1) to investigate the properties of extragalactic dust and compare them to what is seen in the Galaxy; 2) to address in an independent way the problem of the anomalous extinction curves reported for…
There is increasing evidence that massive stars may exhibit an enhanced mass loss shortly before their termination explosion. Some of them also indicate the enhancement of their circumstellar matter (CSM) is not spherically symmetric.…
Supernova can be polarized by an asymmetry in the explosion process, an off-center source of illumination, scattering in an envelope distorted by rotation or a binary companion, or scattering by the circumstellar dust. Careful polarimetry…
We propose a bipolar jet model for supernova polarization. Light from the main component of the supernova (which we call the bulk supernova for short) scatters off electrons in the jets and is polarized: this polarized light is added to the…
We present a brief summary of asphericity effects in thermonuclear and core collapse supernovae (SN), and how to distinguish the underlying physics by their observable signatures. Electron scattering is the dominant process to produce…
Supernova (SN) explosions are crucial engines driving the evolution of galaxies by shock heating gas, increasing the metallicity, creating dust, and accelerating energetic particles. In 2012 we used the Atacama Large…
We briefly review the existing database of supernova spectropolarimetry, concentrating on recent data and on results from our group's research. Spectropolarimetry provides the only direct known probe of early-time supernova geometry. To…
Observational signatures of the circumstellar material (CSM) around Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) provide a unique perspective on their progenitor systems. The pre-supernova evolution of the SN progenitors may naturally eject CSM in most of…
Some supernova (SN) explosions show evidence for interaction with pre-existing non-spherically symmetric circumstellar medium (CSM) in their light curves, spectral line profiles, and polarization signatures. To better understand the…
We present polarization spectra near maximum light for the strongly subluminous Type Ia supernova 1999by that show that the supernova is intrinsically polarized. SN 1999by has an observed, overall level of polarization of ~0.3 to 0.8%, a…
We present complete spectropolarimetric coverage of the Type II supernova (SN) 2023ixf ranging from 1 to 120 days after explosion. Polarimetry was obtained with the Kast double spectrograph on the Shane 3m telescope at Lick Observatory. As…
We present synthetic single-line and continuum linear-polarisation signatures due to electron scattering in axially-symmetric Type II supernovae (SNe) which we calculate using a Monte Carlo and a long-characteristic radiative-transfer code.…
Supernova 1987A in the Large Magellanic Cloud has proven a unique laboratory to investigate particle acceleration in young supernova remnants. Here we report the first detection of linear polarization of the supernova's synchrotron emission…
We present spectropolarimetric observations of the nearby Type Ia SN 2014J in M82 over six epochs: +0, +7, +23, +51, +77, +109, and +111 days with respect to B-band maximum. The strong continuum polarization, which is constant with time,…