Cassiopeia A is the youngest supernova remnant known in the Milky Way and a unique laboratory for supernova physics. We present an optical spectrum of the Cassiopeia A supernova near maximum brightness, obtained from observations of a scattered light echo more than three centuries after the direct light of the explosion swept past Earth. The spectrum shows that Cassiopeia A was a type IIb super...

Context. The hot X-ray emitting gas in clusters of galaxies is a very large repository of metals produced by supernovae. During the evolution of clusters, billions of supernovae eject their material into this Intra-Cluster Medium (ICM). Aims. We aim to accurately measure the abundances in the ICM of many clusters and compare these data with metal yields produced by supernovae. With accurate abu...

I review the status and perspectives of the research on the diffuse flux of (core collapse) supernova neutrinos (DSNνF). In absence of a positive signal, several upper bounds exist in different detection channels. Of these, the strongest is the limit from SuperKamiokande (SK) of 1.2 electron antineutrinos cms at 90% confidence level above 19.3 MeV of neutrino energy. The predictions of the DSNν...

The origin of the prominent 'knee' in the cosmic ray energy spectrum at an energy of several PeV is still uncertain. A recent mechanism has shown promise, however; this involves particles from a very young pulsar interacting with the radiation field from its associated very young supernova remnant. The ensuing nuclear reaction of the particles with the photons by way of + e e production then ca...

The Parkes multibeam pulsar survey is covering a 10 •-wide strip of the southern Galactic plane from l = 260 • to l = 50 •. It utilizes a 13-beam receiver operating in the 20-cm band on the Parkes 64-m radio telescope and is much more sensitive than any previous large-scale survey. Most of the 608 pulsars discovered so far are relatively distant and many are young, with 37 having a characterist...

In order to resolve the overproduction problem of B in supernova explosions during Galactic chemical evolution, the dependence of the ejected masses of the light elements produced through the ν-process in supernova explosions on supernova neutrino parameters is investigated and constraints on the supernova neutrinos are evaluated. Detailed nucleosynthesis in a supernova explosion model correspo...

We propose a new method to measure the metallicity of Type Ia supernova progenitors using Mn and Cr lines in the X-ray spectra of young supernova remnants. We show that the Mn to Cr mass ratio in Type Ia supernova ejecta is tightly correlated with the initial metallicity of the progenitor, as determined by the neutron excess of the white dwarf material before thermonuclear runaway. We use this ...

We present the results of applying new object classification techniques to difference images in the context of the Nearby Supernova Factory supernova search. Most current supernova searches subtract reference images from new images, identify objects in these difference images, and apply simple threshold cuts on parameters such as statistical significance, shape, and motion to reject objects suc...

The observed association between supernovae and gamma-ray bursts represents a cornerstone in our understanding of the nature of gamma-ray bursts. The collapsar model provides a theoretical framework for this connection. A key element is the launch of a bipolar jet (seen as a gamma-ray burst). The resulting hot cocoon disrupts the star, whereas the (56)Ni produced gives rise to radioactive heati...