Supernova VLBI in the present and with the SKA

Abstract

VLBI is the only technology that will allow sub-milliarcsecond resolution imaging in the near future. As such, it is the only way to image expanding supernovae in nearby galaxies. Such images potentially allow us to study the early evolution of neutron stars or black holes left behind by core-collapse supernovae, the circumstellar wind history of the supernova progenitor stars, the shock acceleration of cosmic-ray particles in supernovae as well as the evolutionary process by which supernova shells merge into, and enrich, the ISM. I will discuss the results of the on-going VLBI imaging campaigns on supernovae 1986J and 1993J. I will also discuss the impact on supernova VLBI of the proposed South-African Karoo Array Telescope and Australian ASKAP arrays, as well as the SKA itself, as these telescopes will greatly increase the sensitivity of the global VLBI network.

6 pages; 2 accompanying aminations; accepted for "Proceedings of Science: From Planets to Dark Energy: the Modern Radio Universe"

References in corpus (8)

• The radio spectra of the compact sources in Arp 220: A mixed population of supernovae and supernova remnants
• A Supernova Factory in the Merger System Arp 299
• SN 1993J VLBI (IV): A Geometric Determination of the Distance to M81 with the Expanding Shock Front Method
• SN1993J VLBI (I): The Center of the Explosion and a Limit on Anisotropic Expansion
• 15 years of VLBI observations of two compact radio sources in Messier 82
• 8.4GHz VLBI observations of SN2004et in NGC6946
• How is really decelerating the expansion of SN1993J?
• e-VLBI observations of SN2001em - an off-axis GRB candidate