APEC Seminar (Astronomy - Particle Physics - Experimental Physics - Cosmology)

Speaker: Andrey Zhiglo (Kharkov Institute of Physics and Technology, Ukraine)
Title: Magnetar Models for Superluminous Supernovae
Date (JST): Tue, Mar 20, 2018, 12:00 - 13:00
Place: Seminar Room A
Abstract: Under certain conditions neutron stars can be formed with extreme large-scale magnetic fields, exceeding 10^14 G on the star surface. Fields this strong profoundly change the state of the matter, and are dynamically important for the evolution of such objects (magnetars). Magnetars with short rotation periods, of order 1 ms, are slowed down on timescales of a few days due to magneto-dipole radiation, that carries away the rotational and magnetic energy of order foes (10^51 erg). This radiation drastically affects the evolution of the matter surrounding the young magnetar, e.g. the ejecta of the supernova accompanying the magnetar birth. The extra energy source with its own time-dependence leads to distinct from "normal" supernova light curves in all spectral bands.
Magnetar heating is thus invoked as an explanation for numerous transient phenomena, hydrogen-poor and hydrogen-rich superluminous supernovae, long duration gamma-ray bursts, peculiar type II-P supernova iPTF14hls, kilonova emission in neutron star merger GW170817. I will overview the physics of the processes involved, present results of radiation-hydrodynamics simulations with different magnetars and ejecta, discuss agreement of the results with the properties of observed objects.