Recently I’ve been really interested in tidal disruption events (TDEs). These are hot, bright flares generated in the centres of galaxies as an unlucky star wanders too close to a supermassive black hole and gets shredded! Along with my collaborators, I just published this paper studying one particular TDE in detail, and trying to understand … More A tidal disruption event changes its spots
It’s been a long time since my last post (changing jobs/continents is time-consuming!) but I have two almost-new papers I’ve been meaning to share: one recently published in ApJ letters, and the other just accepted in ApJ. The two are linked by the theme of very late-time observations of superluminous supernovae. The first paper focuses … More Old supernovae, new insights!
Wow. After two months of excitement and feverish work, we finally revealed yesterday what many in the astronomical community had been speculating about: the simultaneous discovery of gravitational and electromagnetic radiation (light) from the same source. But what maybe no one expected was just how much light. This event, the violent collision of two neutron … More Gravitational waves and visible light from a neutron star collision: an incredible day for science
Alternative title: Markov Chain Monte Carlo Multi-Colour Magnetar Calculations with the MOSFiT Code (MCMCMCMCMC). Earlier this summer (it’s been so busy!) we published the first results from our new multi-purpose light curve code. The Modular Open Source Fitter for Transients (MOSFiT) was written by James Guillochon and myself (with help from many others) so that … More A full literature study of superluminous supernovae with our new code, MOSFiT!
Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are one of the hottest topics in astrophysics right now. FRBs are millisecond pulses of extraterrestrial radio emission that had us all baffled for most of the last decade. In the past year however, astronomers have discovered the first “repeater” (an FRB source emitting multiple bursts over 4 years and counting), … More Fast radio bursts and superluminous supernovae: a surprising connection?
My collaborator Peter Blanchard, a PhD student here at Harvard, has just published the exciting discovery of the tidal disruption of a star in an active galactic nucleus. What does this mean? A tidal disruption event (TDE) occurs when a star passes too close to a supermassive black hole, within the tidal radius where the pull … More A star is ripped apart by an already-active black hole
Earlier this year, the Gaia satellite, in the process of mapping out our Milky Way in unprecedented detail, happened to discover its first superluminous supernova (SLSN). This was a great discovery not only because it turned out to be one of the most nearby such events we’ve ever found, but because it was about 5 times brighter … More The most UV-bright supernova is powered by an internal engine
Last year, a very unusual transient made headlines around the world as ‘the most luminous supernova ever discovered’. ASASSN-15lh was certainly incredibly bright — about double the previous record holder! However, it exhibited a number of weird properties that made it unlike any other superluminous supernova: a much higher temperature; a spectrum lacking most of the usual absorption … More The brightest supernova, or an overindulgent black hole?
Evidence of a connection between superluminous supernovae and the hypernovae that accompany long gamma-ray bursts has been building for a few years now. There was even a whole conference this summer at the Space Telescope Science Institute to discuss it (the vote came out pretty evenly split!). But now we have what seems to be the strongest evidence … More Nebular spectrum of superluminous supernova reveals GRB connection!
