Related papers: The Supernova Gamma-Ray Burst Connection
During the gravitational core collapse of a massive progenitor star which may give rise to at least a class of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) associated with supernovae, a stellar core rapidly passes through a short yet important phase of…
The extremely luminous supernova SN 2006gy challenges the traditional view that the collapse of a stellar core is the only mechanism by which a massive star makes a supernova, because it seems too luminous by more than a factor of ten. Here…
Circumstellar interaction has been observed around all types of massive star supernovae, especially at radio and X-ray wavelengths. The interaction shells in Type Ib/c supernovae appear to be moving rapidly, although SN 1998bw remains the…
We present nebular-phase imaging and spectroscopy for the hydrogen-poor superluminous supernova SN 2015bn, at redshift z=0.1136, spanning +250-400 d after maximum light. The light curve exhibits a steepening in the decline rate from 1.4…
This meeting covered the range of cosmic explosions from solar flares to gamma-ray bursts. A common theme is the role of rotation and magnetic fields. A rigorous examination is underway to characterize systematic effects that might alter…
Optical and near-infrared observations of the gamma-ray burst GRB 031203, at z = 0.1055, are reported. A very faint afterglow is detected superimposed to the host galaxy in our first infrared JHK observations, carried out ~9 hours after the…
Optical and near-infrared observations of the Type Ic supernova (SN) 2004aw are presented, obtained from day -3 to day +413 with respect to the B-band maximum. The photometric evolution is characterised by a comparatively slow post-maximum…
We discuss our radio (Australia Telescope Compact Array and Australian Long Baseline Array) and X-ray (XMM-Newton) monitoring observations of the unusual ultraluminous supernova SN 1978K in NGC 1313 at ~25 years after the explosion. SN…
The discovery of a population of superluminous supernovae (SLSNe), with peak luminosities a factor of ~100 brighter than normal SNe (typically SLSNe have M_V <-21), has shown an unexpected diversity in core-collapse supernova properties.…
We suggest that the collapsing core of a massive rotating star may fragment to produce two or more compact objects. Their coalescence under gravitational radiation gives the resulting black hole or neutron star a significant kick velocity,…
Absorption and reprocessing of Gamma-ray burst radiation in the environment of cosmological GRBs can be used as a powerful probe of the elusive nature of their progenitors. Although it is widely accepted that long-duration GRBs are…
Supernovae (SNe) are thought to arise from two different physical processes. The cores of massive, short-lived stars undergo gravitational core collapse and typically eject a few solar masses during their explosion. These are thought to…
We study nucleosynthesis in 'hypernovae', i.e., supernovae with very large explosion energies ($ \gsim 10^{52} $ ergs) for both spherical and aspherical explosions. The hypernova yields compared to those of ordinary core-collapse supernovae…
The death of massive stars and the processes which govern the formation of compact remnants are not fully understood. Observationally, this problem may be addressed by studying different classes of cosmic explosions and their energy…
We present a core-collapse supernova model for the extremely luminous Type Ic supernova 2007bi. By performing numerical calculations of hydrodynamics, nucleosynthesis, and radiation transport, we find that SN 2007bi is consistent with the…
The probable association with GRB 980425 immediately put SN 1998bw at the forefront of supernova research. Here, we present revised late-time BVRI light curves of the supernova, based on template images taken at the VLT. To follow the…
We review recent progress in elucidating the relationship between high-energy radiation and the interstellar medium (ISM) in young supernova remnants (SNRs) with ages of $\sim$2000 yr, focusing in particular on RX J1713.7$-$3946 and RCW 86.…
Using observations from an extensive monitoring campaign with the Hubble Space Telescope we present the detection of an intermediate-time flux excess which is redder in color relative to the afterglow of GRB 011121, currently distinguished…
The observation of a gamma-ray burst (GRB) associated with a supernova (SN) coincides remarkably with the energy output from a binary system comprising a very massive carbon-oxygen (CO) core and an associated binary neutron star (NS) by the…
XRF 030723 is the first X-ray flash (XRF) to show in its optical light curve (LC) a bump that has been interpreted as the signature of a supernova (SN). After subtracting the afterglow component from the observed optical LC of the XRF…