Institute for Advanced Study Astrophysics Seminar

ABSTRACT: For several decades, observational studies of supernova (SN) explosions have focused almost exclusively on the optical emission that dominates their bolometric luminosity. Yet many of the leading breakthroughs in our understanding of supernovae have been enabled by observations at other wavelengths (e.g., the neutrinos from SN1987A, the Crab X-ray pulsar). My research group focuses on revealing additional such clues through untraditional supernova studies. For example, through a combination of gamma-ray and radio observations, I showed that only 0.1% of all core-collapse supernovae produce relativistic outflows that give rise to gamma-ray bursts (GRBs; Soderberg et al. Nature 2010). Next, my serendipitous X-ray discovery of SN 2008D caught in the act of exploding revealed a novel technique to discover new supernovae at the moment the shockwave rips through the stellar surface (Soderberg et al. Nature, 2008). This seminal discovery confirmed the decades-old prediction for supernova "shock breakout" emission; current and future X-ray satellites will soon reveal additional events. Finally, with the advent of the Expanded Very Large Array (EVLA) and the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) - the world's most sensitive radio and mm-band telescopes - the next advancement in our understanding of supernovae will be enabled by observations at longer wavelengths, $\Lambda$~0.04-20 cm.