演講資訊

摘要：

Wide-field surveys have revolutionised time-domain astronomy, allowing very large volumes of the Universe to be searched for explosive stars, particularly exotic ones. A new class of “superluminous supernovae” are 100 times brighter but 10,000 times rarer than classical supernovae. To understand which stars explode in this way and why, it is essential to analyse the explosions and their birthplaces side-by-side. Here I will show how the most direct progenitor constraints to date come from detailed studies of the environments hosting superluminous supernovae. I will also present new evidence that these events may produce a surprisingly large dust mass. More recently, the first detection of gravitational waves from a binary neutron star merger and its associated electromagnetic counterpart, the so-called “kilonova”, opened up a new era of multi-messenger astronomy. I led one of the follow-up campaigns and we found that the light curve and colour evolution of the kilonova are consistent with radioactive powering from the nucleosynthesis of heavy elements. Finally, I will look ahead to how new surveys such as LSST will continue to revolutionise our understanding of explosive transients.