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| Supernovae
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| I study core-collapse supernovae, with a particular emphasis on those that interact with circumstellar material arising from pre-explosion mass loss. These are primarily SNe Type IIn, but in recent years more and more evidence has shown that other core-collapse subtypes (and even some SNe Ia) possess circumstellar material. I use a three-dimensional Monte Carlo radiative transfer code, called SLIP, to simulate the polarized line profiles created when light from the supernova ejecta interacts with the surrounding CSM. |
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| I am a member of the Supernova Spectropolarimetry (SNSPOL) collaboration, which includes collaborators at U. Arizona, SDSU, and U. Nice. This group recently published a detailed spectropolarimetric study of the enigmatic "supernova impostor" SN 2009ip (Mauerhan et al. 2014). We are carrying out an extensive spectropolarimetric survey of core-collapse supernovae using the SPOL instrument at various UA telescopes, with new observations occurring monthly. |
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| My group's research in this area has been supported by NSF awards AST-0807477 and AST-1210372 and by a DU Faculty Research Fund award. |
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| Recent results: |
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Multi-epoch spectropolarimetry of SN 2009ip: direct evidence for aspherical circumstellar material, Mauerhan et al. 2014, MNRAS, 442, 1166
ADS > |
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The Supernova Spectropolarimetry Project: Evolution of asymmetries in the very luminous Type Ib SN 2012au, Hoffman et al. 2014, AAS 223, 354.21
Full poster > |
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