Current transient surveys are finding SN-like events
which are not true supernovae. Some of the "supernova impostors" are
suspected to be giant eruptions resembling eta Carinae, possibly related
to the Luminous Blue Variables. Meanwhile, the most luminous true
supernovae are believed to be explosions into debris formed by previous
mass ejections, and two SNae were observed to have outbursts prior
to their final events. All these developments emphasize the importance
of instabilities and episodic mass loss in the most massive stars,
but the mechanisms remain mysterious. Do they involve the outer layers,
or the core regions, or both? How do stars above 50 solar masses end
their lives? Do they just collapse to black holes? Recent studies
confirm that classical Type II SN progenitors have much lower initial
masses. Many of the outstanding questions about final stages of very
massive stars are primarily theoretical, but observations are scarce,
especially of the progenitor class.
The meeting will be a three day topical workshop
to bring together theorists and observers studying very massive stars,
their instabilities, SNe and their progenitors, and the outcomes of
the final eruptions. The emphasis of the workshop will be on the final
stages of massive star evolution and the unsolved theoretical and
observational questions.
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SOC members:
Dave Arnett
Kris Davidson
Alexander Heger - co-chair
Roberta Humphreys- co-chair
Norbert Langer
Vuk Mandic
Peter Meszaros
Yong Qian
Stephen Smartt
Stan Woosley
Weblink:
http://www.astro.umn.edu/massive/
Email: massive@astro.umn.edu
March 6, 2012