Colloquium: Physics & Astronomy – Dr. Jennifer Andrews

About the event

The Department of Physics and Astronomy invites all to a colloquium featuring Dr. Jennifer Andrews, Faculty Candidate. Dr. Andrews will present their talk, “Supernovae as Forensic Labs for Massive Stars.”

Meet for refreshments before the lecture at 3:45 – 4:10 p.m. in the foyer on floor G above the lecture hall.

 Abstract:

Core collapse supernovae (CCSNe) represent the final evolutionary stage of stars more massive than 8 M☉.  Just like their massive star progenitors, CCSN explosions are far from homogenous.  The photometric and spectral evolution zoo of CCSNe can be better understood when the mass-loss histories of their progenitors are taken into context. We can now reconstruct the mass-loss history and physical parameters of the massive star progenitor with observations of SNe in the hours to years after explosion, without the need for rare pre-explosion Hubble Space Telescope imaging. Mass-loss rates and eruptive events in evolved massive stars impact the behavior of the terminal CCSN, including red supergiants, yellow hypergiants, and luminous blue variables: Red supergiants and yellow hypergiants have slower wind velocities and lower mass-loss rates than luminous blue variables, creating very different explosion environments, and by extension, very different observational characteristics of the supernova. I will present how I use these extremely bright and violent explosions to understand more about the final years of massive star evolution, and what tools are being used and developed to discover these SNe so rapidly in what is becoming the golden age of transient astronomy.

https://physics.wsu.edu/events/colloquium/