Astrophysics Seminar|Massive Stars at the End of their Life, March 11

Raffaella Margutti

The Astrophysical Institute (ApI) presents Raffaella Margutti of  the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics presenting “Eruptions, disruptions and (repeated) explosions: massive stars at the end of their life and the role of central engines and sustained mass-loss” on Tuesday, March 11, at at 4:10 p.m. in Edwards Accelerator Lab, Roger W. Finlay Conference Room.

ABSTRACT: Observations are drawing a complex picture of the latest stages of evolution of massive stars and their explosions. In this talk I concentrate on two among the least understood aspects, adopting an observational perspective: (i) How do massive stars lose a significant fraction of their mass in the years preceding the explosion? (ii) What is the role of *central engines* in explosions originating from progenitors that managed to lose their entire hydrogen envelope? I address these questions by taking advantage from panchromatic observations of two remarkable explosions: the puzzling, double explosion of SN2009ip in 2012, and the mildly relativistic, engine-driven SN2012ap, that bridges the gap between ordinary explosions and fully relativistic gamma-ray bursts.