Revealing the origin of superluminous supernovae and their appliaction

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16H07413
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Astronomy
• Research Institution: National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
• Principal Investigator: Moriya Takashi 国立天文台, 理論研究部, 特任助教 (90779547)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-08-26 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 超新星爆発 / 大質量星 / 恒星進化

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Supernovae are the terminal explosions of massive stars. Recently, supernovae that are more than about 10 times brighter than ordinary supernovae have been discovered and they are called superluminous supernovae. Their progenitors are unknown. This research has revealed that the supernovae that form strongly magnetized rapidly rotating neutron stars during the explosions are likely to be superluminous supernovae. Superluminous supernovae can be observed further than other supernovae. Using Subaru/Hyper Suprime-Cam, this study has led to the discovery of the most distant supernova ever observed. It implies that massive stars are preferentially formed in the early Universe.

Free Research Field

理論天体物理学