Optical Survey for Supernova Shock Breakouts

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25800103
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Astronomy
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Morokuma Tomoki 東京大学, 理学(系)研究科(研究院), 助教 (10594674)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 超新星 / 広視野サーベイ / 活動銀河核

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We aimed for detecting the first moment of explosion of a supernova (shock breakout), which is originated from a massive star, to reveal the final stage of a stellar evolution and the explosion mechanism. We used wide-field optical imaging camera mounted on 1-m Kiso Schmidt telescope (KWFC) and 8.2-m Subaru telescope (HSC). Our high-cadence supernova survey for supernovae was the first trial in the world. We completed observing systems for remote automatic observations for the Kiso telescope and carried out 100-night observations per year for three years. We discovered no shock breakouts which is still consistent with the model prediction. With the Subaru HSC, we developed a data reduction system at the site and successfully discovered 5 young supernovae which are thought to be right after the explosions. Using the same dataset, we also identified a small active black holes of 3 million solar masses.

Free Research Field

光赤外線天文学