Thursday 28 January at 3pm

Alexandra Fassia and Peter Meikle - Imperial College

"Recent studies of core-collapse and thermonuclear supernovae"

ABSTRACT: "The mechanism whereby a core-collapse supernova produces an explosion is still something of a mystery. However, recent theoretical studies suggest that neutrino-driven convection plays a key role. We shall describe a new method of probing this mechanism using observations of the HeI 1.083 micron line. Studies of SN 1987A and 1995V will be described.

Thermonuclear (Type Ia) supernovae are becoming increasingly important as cosmological distance indicators. The recent discovery of SN 1998bu in M96 is providing an important contribution to the calibration of these indicators. The distance to M96 is accurately known via HST-Cepheid measurements. We shall describe work in progress and how this supernova compares with other thermonuclear events."