Research group The supernova group
Located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, one of the Milky Way’s satellite galaxies, SN 1987A was the nearest supernova explosion observed in centuries and it quickly became the best studied supernova of all time. Credit: ALMA: ESO/NAOJ/NRAO/A. Angelich, Hubble: NASA, ESA, R. Kirshner (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation) and P. Challis (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), Chandra: NASA/CXC/Penn State/K. Frank et al.
At the department, the structure, dynamics and formation of elements in supernovae are studied through modeling and observations. Studies of the interaction of supernovae with the surrounding gas are also performed, which provides direct information about the progenitor's mass loss history just before the explosion. Other important aspects are the connection to the compact object (black hole or neutron star) that is formed in the center of the explosion, and how much dust is created in exploding stars.
Part of the research is done in collaboration with the Physics departments at Stockholm University and KTH within
the
Oskar Klein Centre.