438 research outputs found
New approaches to SNe Ia progenitors
Although Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are a major tool in cosmology and play a
key role in the chemical evolution of galaxies, the nature of their progenitor
systems (apart from the fact that they must contain at least one white dwarf,
that explodes) remains largely unknown. In the last decade, considerable
efforts have been made, both observationally and theoretically, to solve this
problem. Observations have, however, revealed a previously unsuspected variety
of events, ranging from very underluminous outbursts to clearly overluminous
ones, and spanning a range well outside the peak luminosity--decline rate of
the light curve relationship, used to make calibrated candles of the SNe Ia. On
the theoretical side, new explosion scenarios, such as violent mergings of
pairs of white dwarfs, have been explored. We review those recent developments,
emphasizing the new observational findings, but also trying to tie them to the
different scenarios and explosion mechanisms proposed thus far.Comment: 63 pages, 9 figures, final version to appear as an invited review in
New Astronomy Review
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