OKC colloquia
Superluminous supernovae - cosmic origins and evolution
by
→
Europe/Stockholm
FA31
FA31
Description
A rare type of supernovae have been found in recent wide field surveys that are 20-100 times brighter than normal thermonuclear and core-collapse supernovae. The origin of this remarkable luminosity is not yet firmly established and there are currently three competing theories, all involving massive stars. The explosions appear to exclusive occur in dwarf galaxies which implies that their progenitor stars are of low metallicity. I will discuss recent results from Pan-STARRS, PESSTO and other surveys and show how these supernovae are being used as novel probes of the high redshift universe.
(host: J. Sollerman)