Past Events | Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics

2022

KICP workshop: 2022 Gaia DR3 Chicago Sprint

Through June 15, 2022 ERC 401

The 2022 Gaia DR3 Chicago Sprint is a 3-day regional workshop to kickstart projects using data from the Gaia satellite’s third data release (DR3). Gaia DR3 will provide large numbers of low- and medium-resolution spectra, radial velocities, stellar parameters, variable stars, solar system sources, non-single stars, quasar host galaxies, and time-series photometry around the Andromeda galaxy.

Jun 13

Special KICP seminar: Sophia Lilleengen (Surrey/CCA)

12:00–1:00 pm ERC 401

Sophia Lilleengen (Surrey/CCA) “The effect of dark matter deformations of the Milky Way and the Large Magellanic Cloud on the Orphan-Chenab stream”

Jun 9

Harper Lecture: Jacob L. Bean (UChicago)

7:00–8:00 pm Virtual

Jacob L. Bean (UChicago) “Beyond Our Sun: The Launch, Deployment, and Extrasolar Planet Science of the James Webb Space Telescope”

Jun 1

A&A Colloquium: Vikram Dwarkadas (University of Chicago)

3:30–4:30 pm ERC 161 - Zoom link, also available. Please contact Sheree Ruth @sruth@uchicago.edu

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.

Jun 1

PhD Thesis Defense: Rostom Mbarek

10:30–11:30 am ERC 401

Rostom Mbarek “Particle Acceleration, Propagation, and Detection: A Journey from the Kinetic Structure of Plasma Physics to Particle Transport on Cosmic Scales”

Jun 1

Astro Tuesday: Samantha Usman and Taylor Hoyt

12:00–1:00 pm ERC 401

Samantha Usman “Classifying the Progenitor of the Stellar Stream 300S” and Taylor Hoyt “Recalibrating the Tip of the Red Giant Branch Distance Scale: Implications for the Hubble Constant”

May 31