Special Astrophysics Seminar

X-rays Mark the Spot: the Birth of a Supernova

Alicia Soderberg

Princeton University

Throughout history, observational supernova studies have focused almost exclusively on their strong optical emission powered by the radioactive decay of Nickel. Yet many of the leading breakthroughs in our understanding of supernovae and their progenitors have been enabled by observations at other wavelengths. For example, through the combination of radio, optical, X-ray and gamma-ray observations, we now know that less than 0.1 percent of all core-collapse supernovae require “central engines” (compact accreting sources) to power associated gamma-ray bursts. As I will discuss, it is the growing sample of radio and X-ray observations of nearby supernovae that are enabling rapid progress in revealing the nature of the GRB-SN connection. The fundamental question at this stage is clearly: which key progenitor property enables such a small fraction of massive star explosions to give rise to relativistic ejecta, and in turn, GRBs? While progenitor mass, metallicity, and binarity are among the m ost popular explanations, I will discuss how panchromatic observations (radio through gamma-rays) of supernovae and their environments shed light on this puzzle, using our extensive analysis on SN 2008D as a primary example.