Shock Ascension and the Quest for Core Collapse Supernova Progenitors

When massive stars exhaust their nuclear fuel, their core collapses to form a compact object, releasing a large amount of energy and giving rise to an outward moving shock wave. If this shock wave is able to overcome gravity, the star explodes and produces a transient called a supernova. If, instead, gravity overwhelms the shock wave, then the star collapses directly to a black hole. In this talk I will discuss my research of the passage of this shock wave inside the interior of the star. I will focus on two extremes: the behaviour close to the centre of the star (the explosion mechanism) and near the stellar surface (shock breakout). I will show how results from this study, with the data from upcoming missions, can shed light on the properties of the progenitor star and the outcome of the star’s death (whether it explodes or not, and what kind of object it leaves behind). I will also discuss how insights from this study can be used to model other violent astrophysical processes.

Note: the seminar will be given remotely over Zoom, on https://zoom.us/j/9290951953