TY - JOUR
T1 - Reconstructing the Scene
T2 - New Views of Supernovae and Progenitors from the SNSPOL Project
AU - Hoffman, Jennifer L.
AU - Williams, George G
AU - Leonard, Douglas C.
AU - Bilinski, Christopher
AU - Dessart, Luc
AU - Huk, Leah N.
AU - Mauerhan, Jon C.
AU - Milne, Peter
AU - Porter, Amber L.
AU - Smith, Nathan
AU - Smith, Paul S.
N1 - Funding Information:
Begun in 2012 and funded by the National Science Foundation, the SNSPOL Project (PI: G.G. Williams) continues to amass the largest database of time-dependent spectropo-larimetric data on supernovae of all types. The SNSPOL Project obtains observations of bright SNe roughly once per month using the CCD Imaging/Spectropolarimeter (SPOL; Schmidt, Elston, & Lupie 1992) at either the 61” Kuiper telescope on Mt. Bigelow, the 2.3-m Bok on Kitt Peak, or the 6.5-m MMT on Mt. Hopkins. Supporting observations include optical and near-IR photometry from the Mount Laguna Observatory (Khandrika et al. 2014) and ISP probe star observations from the HPOL spectropolarimeter at the University of Toledo’s Ritter Observatory (Davidson et al. 2014). To date, the SNSPOL project has obtained spectropolarimetric data for over 80 SNe, of which 59 have been observed at more than one observational epoch.
Funding Information:
Acknowledgments. JLH and LNH thank the IAU for generous travel support. The SNSPOL Project is supported by NSF awards AST-1210599, AST-1210311, and AST-1210372; the SN 2009ip research was also partly funded by NSF award AST-1211916.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 International Astronomical Union.
PY - 2016/11/1
Y1 - 2016/11/1
N2 - Because polarization encodes geometrical information about unresolved scattering regions, it provides a unique tool for analyzing the 3-D structures of supernovae (SNe) and their surroundings. SNe of all types exhibit time-dependent spectropolarimetric signatures produced primarily by electron scattering. These signatures reveal physical phenomena such as complex velocity structures, changing illumination patterns, and asymmetric morphologies within the ejecta and surrounding material. Interpreting changes in polarization over time yields unprecedentedly detailed information about supernovae, their progenitors, and their evolution. Begun in 2012, the SNSPOL Project continues to amass the largest database of time-dependent spectropolarimetric data on SNe. I present an overview of the project and its recent results. In the future, combining such data with interpretive radiative transfer models will further constrain explosion mechanisms and processes that shape SN ejecta, uncover new relationships among SN types, and probe the properties of progenitor winds and circumstellar material.
AB - Because polarization encodes geometrical information about unresolved scattering regions, it provides a unique tool for analyzing the 3-D structures of supernovae (SNe) and their surroundings. SNe of all types exhibit time-dependent spectropolarimetric signatures produced primarily by electron scattering. These signatures reveal physical phenomena such as complex velocity structures, changing illumination patterns, and asymmetric morphologies within the ejecta and surrounding material. Interpreting changes in polarization over time yields unprecedentedly detailed information about supernovae, their progenitors, and their evolution. Begun in 2012, the SNSPOL Project continues to amass the largest database of time-dependent spectropolarimetric data on SNe. I present an overview of the project and its recent results. In the future, combining such data with interpretive radiative transfer models will further constrain explosion mechanisms and processes that shape SN ejecta, uncover new relationships among SN types, and probe the properties of progenitor winds and circumstellar material.
KW - astronomical databases:miscellaneous
KW - polarization
KW - supernovae: general
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85047061548&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1017/S1743921317003052
DO - 10.1017/S1743921317003052
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85047061548
SN - 1743-9213
VL - 12
SP - 54
EP - 58
JO - Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union
JF - Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union
IS - S329
ER -