3:30–4:30 pm
ERC 161 - Zoom link, also available. Please contact Sheree Ruth @sruth@uchicago.edu ERC 161
Winds, Bubbles, Disks and Binaries: Multi-wavelength Investigations of Stripped-Envelope Supernovae
Core-collapse supernovae (SNe) arise from massive stars. These stars lose mass throughout their evolution, in the form of winds and outbursts. The lost mass can modify the medium around the stars. When the star explodes as a SN, the resulting shock wave expands in this circumstellar medium pre-sculpted by the progenitor, rather than in the interstellar medium. The evolution of the shock wave, and the resulting radiative signatures, depend on the nature and density profile of this medium.
We can turn this to our advantage. Interpretation of the emission from the SN can reveal details about the medium into which it is expanding. In recent years, it has become clear that stars, especially towards the end of their lives, often lose substantially more mass, and modify the circumstellar medium in diverse ways.
In this talk we will investigate the circumstellar medium around SNe, especially stripped-envelope SNe, which have lost their H, and sometimes He, envelopes. Using a variety of tools, including numerical simulations, high resolution X-ray spectra, and multi-wavelength observations of SNe at radio, optical, IR and X-ray wavelengths, we study the emission from these SNe. The results show how a detailed, and yet more complicated, picture has begun to emerge regarding stellar mass-loss leading towards core-collapse, the surroundings of massive stars, and the evolution of SNe within the circumstellar medium.
