On the origin of Type Ia supernovae: a long-standing mystery about progenitor(s) and explosion mechanism(s)

by Mattia Bulla (Stockholm University)

Tuesday 24 Nov 2020, 13:15 → 14:15 Europe/Stockholm

Fysikum equipment

Type Ia supernovae are believed to originate from the thermonuclear explosion of carbon-oxygen white dwarfs in binary systems, but answers to the questions of when, why and how the explosions are triggered remain unclear. In this talk, I will discuss three promising avenues to pin down the progenitor system(s) and explosion mechanism(s) of Type Ia supernovae: 1) modelling the polarization signal to probe asymmetries in the ejected material and test different explosion mechanisms; 2) observing Type Ia supernovae in the first few days after explosion to characterize the distribution of radioactive material and tell apart explosion scenarios; 3) studying Type Ia supernovae interacting with dust to differentiate between progenitors with “dirty" and "clean" circumstellar environments. I will review recent efforts in these directions and highlight possible ways forward to shed light on the origin of Type Ia supernovae.