What are the progenitors of type Ia Supernovae?

Add to your list(s) Download to your calendar using vCal

• Filippo Mannucci (Arcetri Observatory)
• Tuesday 21 October 2014, 16:30-17:30
• Sackler Lecture Theatre, Institute of Astronomy.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact David Titterington.

Type-Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are important distance indicators, element factories, cosmic-ray accelerators, kinetic-energy sources in galaxy evolution, and endpoints of stellar binary evolution. It has long been clear that a SN Ia must ben the runaway thermonuclear explosion of a degenerate carbon-oxygen stellar core, most likely a white dwarf (WD). However, the specific progenitor systems of SNe Ia, and the processes that lead to their ignition, have not been identified. Two broad classes of progenitor binary systems have long been considered: single-degenerate (SD), in which a WD gains mass from a non-degenerate star; and double-degenerate (DD), involving the merger of two WDs. New theoretical work, has enriched these possibilities with some interesting updates and variants. I’ll present significant recent observational progress in addressing the progenitor problem. The recent nearby and well-studied event, SN 2011fe, has been particularly revealing. The observational results are not yet conclusive, but they start to point toward one specific direction.

This talk is part of the Cavendish Astrophysics Seminars series.

This talk is included in these lists:

• All Cavendish Laboratory Seminars
• All Talks (aka the CURE list)
• Cavendish Astrophysics Seminars
• Centre for Health Leadership and Enterprise
• Combined External Astrophysics Talks DAMTP
• Cosmology, Astrophysics and General Relativity
• Featured lists
• ME Seminar
• Neurons, Fake News, DNA and your iPhone: The Mathematics of Information
• Sackler Lecture Theatre, Institute of Astronomy
• School of Physical Sciences
• Thin Film Magnetic Talks

Note that ex-directory lists are not shown.