Doctoral dissertation on supernovae by Tanja Nymark

Composite image of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A in infrared, optical and X-ray emission. This is the remnant of the last supernova which exploded in our galaxy in about 1670. The image is a composite of images from NASA's spaceborn telescopes Spitzer (infrared, shown as red in the image), Hubble (optical, shown as yellow) and Chandra (X-rays, shown as green and blue). Credit: NASA/STScI

On March 20, Tanja Nymark defends her doctoral thesis titled "X-ray emission from supernova shock waves".

The thesis presents a theoretical study of the interaction between supernovae and their surroundings. Supernovae are the endpoint of the life of massive stars, and are the dominant contributors to the chemical evolution of the Universe. A study of the interaction with the circumstellar medium yields invaluable information about the late stages of stellar evolution and the physics of supernova explosions. A numerical model is presented which calculates the emission from the cooling region behind the reverse shock in a self-consistent way. This has been applied to some of the best cases of circumstellar interaction. For more information, see the thesis abstract.

Time: Tuesday, March 20, 10.00
Place: FB53, AlbaNova University Center, Roslagstullsbacken 21