Targeting advanced students of astronomy and physics as well as astronomers and physicists
contemplating research on supernovae or related fields David Branch and J. Craig Wheeler offer
a modern account of the nature causes and consequences of supernovae as well as of issues
that remain to be resolved. Owing especially to (1) the appearance of supernova 1987A in the
nearby Large Magellanic Cloud (2) the spectacularly successful use of supernovae as distance
indicators for cosmology (3) the association of some supernovae with the enigmatic cosmic
gamma-ray bursts and (4) the discovery of a class of superluminous supernovae the pace of
supernova research has been increasing sharply. This monograph serves as a broad survey of
modern supernova research and a guide to the current literature. The book's emphasis is on the
explosive phases of supernovae. Part 1 is devoted to a survey of the kinds of observations that
inform us about supernovae some basic interpretations of such data and an overview of the
evolution of stars that brings them to an explosive endpoint. Part 2 goes into more detail on
core-collapse and superluminous events: which kinds of stars produce them and how do they do
it? Part 3 is concerned with the stellar progenitors and explosion mechanisms of thermonuclear
(Type Ia) supernovae. Part 4 is about consequences of supernovae and some applications to
astrophysics and cosmology. References are provided in sufficient number to help the reader
enter the literature.
