Northwestern Events Calendar

Jun
10
2019

Observational Astro Meeting: Anna Ho: The Landscape of Engine-Driven Explosions

When: Monday, June 10, 2019
2:00 PM - 3:30 PM CT

Where: Technological Institute, F160, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208 map it

Audience: Faculty/Staff - Student - Post Docs/Docs - Graduate Students

Cost: Free

Contact: Lisa Raymond   (847) 491-8646

Group: CIERA - Observational Astronomy Meetings

Category: Lectures & Meetings

Description:

Monday Observational Meetings for Northwestern University's Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA), this week featuring:

 

Anna Ho (Caltech)

Title: The Landscape of Engine-Driven Explosions

Abstract: In the conventional picture of a core-collapse supernova, the iron core collapses into a neutron star or a black hole, and a shockwave unbinds the star. In rare cases, accretion onto a rapidly rotating black hole acts as an "engine" that launches a jet. If that jet tunnels through the star, breaks out, and is pointed at the Earth, we detect a long-duration gamma-ray burst (GRB). There have been thousands of GRBs discovered, almost always by high-energy satellites. However, recent discoveries by optical surveys hint at diverse outcomes that are invisible to GRB satellites, such as jets that are choked inside the star. With the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) we are conducting a systematic exploration of the broader landscape of engine-driven explosions, of which traditional GRBs are just one manifestation. I will show how unexpected arrivals to the landscape (such as AT2018cow) complicate the picture, revealing that some engine-driven explosions take place in dense circumstellar material that was likely ejected in eruptive pre-explosion mass-loss episodes.

 

Host: Raffaella Margutti

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