Observing Slow Radio Transients, from Intermediate-Aged Supernovae to Tidal Disruption Events

After the initial flash and bang of an explosive transient event, radio emission can continue for decades as the shockwave interacts with surrounding material.  These observations can, in turn, provide key insights into both the explosion mechanism behind the transient, and the evolution over time of the system into a remnant.  In this talk, I will cover radio observations of several nearby intermediate-aged supernovae (~10-100 years post-explosion), and tidal disruption events (TDEs) where a star becomes unbound by the tidal forces near a supermassive black hole. First, I will discuss recent results from Supernova 1987A, where radio observations show the shockwave has re-accelerated after emerging from a dense equatorial ring of material. Next, I will cover recent work for two nearby Type Ia supernovae, SN 1895B and SN 1972E, which uses several decades of VLA observations to search for CSM. I will also cover what these observations can tell us about Type Ia progenitor systems via models of CSM density and structure.  Finally, I will discuss new results from the first TDE ever discovered in 2011, Swift J1644+57, which to date is the only TDE where the launch and subsequent turnoff of a relativistic jet has been observed in detail.

Hosted by Pitt.