Observational properties of thermonuclear supernovae
Observational properties of thermonuclear supernovae
The explosive death of a star as a supernova is one of the most dramatic events in the Universe. Supernovae have an outsized impact on many areas of astrophysics: they are major contributors to the chemical enrichment of the cosmos and significantly influence the formation of subsequent generations of stars and the evolution of galaxies. Here we review the observational properties of thermonuclear supernovae—exploding white dwarf stars resulting from the stellar evolution of low-mass stars in close binary systems. The best known objects in this class are type-Ia supernovae (SNe Ia), astrophysically important in their application as standardizable candles to measure cosmological distances and the primary source of iron group elements in the Universe. Surprisingly, given their prominent role, SN Ia progenitor systems and explosion mechanisms are not fully understood; the observations we describe here provide constraints on models, not always in consistent ways. Recent advances in supernova discovery and follow-up have shown that the class of thermonuclear supernovae includes more than just SNe Ia, and we characterize that diversity in this review.
706-716
Jha, Saurabh W.
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Maguire, Kate
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Sullivan, Mark
2f31f9fa-8e79-4b35-98e2-0cb38f503850
August 2019
Jha, Saurabh W.
c3b609d1-0383-4d70-b0c2-f4a813a77211
Maguire, Kate
bff26e2d-9727-471e-aa6f-c88e11a2b1a1
Sullivan, Mark
2f31f9fa-8e79-4b35-98e2-0cb38f503850
Jha, Saurabh W., Maguire, Kate and Sullivan, Mark
(2019)
Observational properties of thermonuclear supernovae.
Nature Astronomy, 3 (8), .
(doi:10.1038/s41550-019-0858-0).
Abstract
The explosive death of a star as a supernova is one of the most dramatic events in the Universe. Supernovae have an outsized impact on many areas of astrophysics: they are major contributors to the chemical enrichment of the cosmos and significantly influence the formation of subsequent generations of stars and the evolution of galaxies. Here we review the observational properties of thermonuclear supernovae—exploding white dwarf stars resulting from the stellar evolution of low-mass stars in close binary systems. The best known objects in this class are type-Ia supernovae (SNe Ia), astrophysically important in their application as standardizable candles to measure cosmological distances and the primary source of iron group elements in the Universe. Surprisingly, given their prominent role, SN Ia progenitor systems and explosion mechanisms are not fully understood; the observations we describe here provide constraints on models, not always in consistent ways. Recent advances in supernova discovery and follow-up have shown that the class of thermonuclear supernovae includes more than just SNe Ia, and we characterize that diversity in this review.
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Observational properties of thermonuclear supernovae
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More information
Accepted/In Press date: 5 July 2019
e-pub ahead of print date: 7 August 2019
Published date: August 2019
Additional Information:
arXiv is AM
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 433697
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/433697
ISSN: 2397-3366
PURE UUID: b490a4c9-bc2f-4a1e-bbf6-a3331dd63f18
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Date deposited: 30 Aug 2019 16:30
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 05:24
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Author:
Saurabh W. Jha
Author:
Kate Maguire
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