Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T16:34:02.646Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Radio Supernovae as Direct Evidence of Stellar Evolution in Real Time

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 August 2015

S.D. Van Dyk
Affiliation:
M.J. Montes
Affiliation:
K.W. Weiler
Affiliation:
R.A. Sramek
Affiliation:
N. Panagia
Affiliation:

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The radio emission from supernovae provides a direct probe of a supernova’s circumstellar environment, which presumably was established by mass-loss episodes in the late stages of the progenitor’s presupernova evolution. The observed synchrotron emission is generated by the SN shock interacting with the relatively high-density circumstellar medium which has been fully ionized and heated by the initial UV/X-ray flash. The study of radio supernovae therefore provides many clues to and constraints on stellar evolution. We will present the recent results on several cases, including SN 1980K, whose recent abrupt decline provides us with a stringent constraint on the progenitor’s initial mass; SN 1993J, for which the profile of the wind matter supports the picture of the progenitor’s evolution in an interacting binary system; and SN 1979C, where a clear change in presupernova mass-loss rate occurred about 104 years before explosion. Other examples, such as SNe 19941 and 1996cb, will also be discussed.

Type
II. Joint Discussions
Copyright
Copyright © Kluwer 1998