相关论文: A precursor interpretation for the Crab supernova …
The eruption of the recurrent nova U Scorpii on 28 January 2010 is now the all-time best observed nova event. We report 36,776 magnitudes throughout its 67 day eruption, for an average of one measure every 2.6 minutes. This unique and…
SN2006oz is a super-luminous supernova with a mysterious bright precursor that has resisted explanation in standard models. However, such a precursor has been predicted in the dual-shock quark nova (dsQN) model of super-luminous supernovae…
Type IIb supernovae (SNe IIb) often exhibit an early light curve excess (EE) preceding the main peak powered by radioactive nickel decay. The physical origin of this early emission remains an open question. Among the proposed scenarios,…
Observations from the last decade have indicated the existence of a general class of superluminous supernovae (SLSNe), in which the peak luminosity exceeds 10^{44} erg/s. Here we focus on a subclass of these events, where the light curve is…
Slightly more than 30 years ago, Whipple detection of the Crab Nebula was the start of Very High Energy gamma-ray astronomy. Since then, gamma-ray observations of this source have continued to provide new surprises and challenges to…
The 2-m robotic Liverpool Telescope (LT) reacted promptly to the high-redshift (z=4.048) gamma-ray burst GRB 060206. The afterglow was identified automatically and multicolor r'i'z' imaging was triggered without human intervention.…
Many Type IIb supernovae (SNe) show a prominent additional early peak in their light curves, which is generally thought to be due to the shock cooling of extended hydrogen-rich material surrounding the helium core of the exploding star. The…
Many core-collapse supernova progenitors are presumed to be in binary systems. If a star explodes in a binary system, the early supernova light curve can be brightened by the collision of the supernova ejecta with the companion star. The…
Over the past five years evidence has mounted that long-duration (> 2 s) gamma-ray bursts (GRBs)--the most brilliant of all astronomical explosions--signal the collapse of massive stars in our Universe. This evidence was originally based on…
The highest brightness temperature ever observed are from "nanoshots" from the Crab pulsar which we argue could be the signature of bursts of vacuum $e^{\pm}$ pair production. If so this would be the first time the astronomical Schwinger…
The origin of relativistic electrons in the Crab nebula which are producing the broad-band flat radio spectrum of this prototype plerion has proved difficult to understand. Here I show that these electrons can be naturally explained as a…
A new class of ultra-long duration (>10,000 s) gamma-ray bursts has recently been suggested. They may originate in the explosion of stars with much larger radii than normal long gamma-ray bursts or in the tidal disruptions of a star. No…
We present photometric and spectroscopic observations of the gamma-ray burst GRB 021211 obtained during the late stages of its afterglow. The light curve shows a rebrightening occurring ~25 days after the GRB. The analysis of a VLT spectrum…
We show that energy deposited into an expanding supernova remnant by a highly magnetic (B ~ 5 x 10^14 G) neutron star spinning at an initial period of P ~ 2-20 ms can substantially brighten the light curve. For magnetars with parameters in…
The core-collapse supernova of a massive star rapidly brightens when a shock, produced following the collapse of its core, reaches the stellar surface. As the shock-heated star subsequently expands and cools, its early-time light curve…
Rapidly evolving transients form a new class of transients which show shorter timescales of the light curves than those of typical core-collapse and thermonuclear supernovae. We performed a systematic search for rapidly evolving transients…
The Crab nebula and its pulsar (referred to together as "Crab") have historically played a central role in astrophysics. True to their legacy, several unique discoveries have been made recently. The Crab was found to emit gamma-ray…
The discovery of a powerful and transient iron line feature in the X-ray afterglow spectrum of GRB 970508 and GRB 970828, if confirmed, would be a major breakthrough for understanding the nature the progenitor of gamma-ray bursts. We show…
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are energetic explosions that for 0.01--100 s are the brightest gamma-ray sources in the sky. Observations of the early evolution of afterglows we expected to provide clues about the nature of the bursts, but their…
Rapid variability before and near the maximum brightness of supernovae has the potential to provide a better understanding of nearly every aspect of supernovae, from the physics of the explosion up to their progenitors and the circumstellar…