Supernova Impostors The Giant Eruptions of Very Massive Stars

by Amit Kashi

at Astrophysics and Cosmology Seminar

Wed, 30 Mar 2016, 11:15
Physics building (#54) room 207

Abstract

The supernova impostors resemble the appearance of a true supernova but rather than a terminal explosion of a star the impostors appear to be massive stars that have undergone a giant eruption and survived Several of these have energy comparable to true supernovae and may be analogous to the Great Eruption of the massive star Eta Carinae in the 1800s I discuss observed characteristics of SN impostors and what is presently known and unknown about them I present new numerical simulations following the recovery of the star from a giant eruption The numerical results show that the eruption is a runaway event that causes huge mass loss from the star The simulated star develops inner pulsations that further drive stellar wind with strong mass loss as observed in erupting objects of that kind It takes the star a few centuries to recover from the eruption and return to equilibrium

Created on 14-03-2016 by Bar Lev, Yevgeny (ybarlev)
Updaded on 14-03-2016 by Bar Lev, Yevgeny (ybarlev)