Astro Seminar
Bumps, wiggles and failed explosions: the diverse landscape of thermonuclear transients
Speaker: Shubham Srivastav (Queen University Belfast)
Date: Wednesday 17 May 2023
Time: 14:00
Venue: N3.28/Zoom
Despite their use as cosmic probes, Type Ia supernovae (SNe) display a bewildering diversity in their observed properties. This includes 'peculiar' subclasses such as SNe Iax - low-velocity and low-energy cousins of SNe Ia, over-luminous 2003fg-like events, and sub-luminous 2002es-like SNe Ia. I will present results from observations of different subclasses of these peculiar SNe Ia and implications for the progenitor scenario(s). Thanks to modern wide-field surveys such as ATLAS and ZTF, we are discovering these events early and to a high degree of completeness within the local volume. I will highlight the role of early and late-phase observations in constraining the nature of the progenitor and explosion mechanisms at play.