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Dr. Patrick O. Slane - General Colloquium
October 16, 2003
Dr. Patrick O. Slane
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Title: Blasts and Embers: Probing the Products of Stellar Explosions with X-rays
The multi-million degree shells of shock-heated stellar ejecta and swept-up interstellar gas formed in supernova explosions provide unique glimpses at the circumstellar environments into which they expand as well as the nucleosynthesis products formed in the evolution and demise of their massive stellar progenitors. The glowing embers of the progenitor cores, in the form of young neutron stars, tell the tale of matter at ultrahigh densities supporting Teragauss magnetic fields. Radiating copiously in the X-ray band, these supernova remnants and their neutron stars provide a wealth of information about shock structure, cosmic-ray acceleration, the distribution of heavy elements, and the equation of state of ultradense matter.
The capabilities provied by the current generation of X-ray observatories is revolutionizing the study of supernova remnants and neutron stars. In this talk I will summarize recent observations which have uncovered raw stellar ejecta from near the cores of the progenitor stars, revealed particles which have been accelerated to energies exceeding tens of TeV, and placed limits on surface temperatures that require nonstandard cooling processes in neutron star interiors.