Center for Nonlinear Studies

Wednesday, May 08, 20191:00 PM - 2:00 PMCNLS Conference Room (TA-3, Bldg 1690)
Seminar
Type Ia Supernova Remnants - what can they tell us about SN Ia?
You-Hua ChuUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Taiwan
Type Ia supernovae (SNe) have been used to discover the accelerated expansion of the Universe. It is commonly accepted that the progenitor of a Type Ia SN involves a white dwarf (WD) in a close binary system, but its exact nature is still uncertain. Type Ia SN can originate from a WD accreting too much mass from a normal star companion, the single degenerate (SD) case, or by a merger of two WDs, the double degenerate (DD) case. Clues to the nature of a Type Ia SN may be found in a young supernova remnant (SNR). If a surviving companion of the SN progenitor is identified, the SD nature can be affirmed. If a dense circumstellar medium is detected, the SD nature can also be claimed. We have been using Type Ia SNRs in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) to explore the nature of their SN progenitors. We have analyzed HST photometry of stars and VLT/MUSE spectroscopic observations of stars and ionized gas. I will present published and preliminary results of our investigation of Type Ia SNRs in the LMC and preview our search for Type Ia SNRs in M33.

Host: Chris Fryer