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Minutes-duration optical flares with supernova luminosities
In recent years, certain luminous extragalactic optical transients have been observed to last only a few days1. Their short observed duration implies a different powering mechanism from the most common luminous e...
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Article
Publisher Correction: A very luminous jet from the disruption of a star by a massive black hole
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Article
A very luminous jet from the disruption of a star by a massive black hole
Tidal disruption events (TDEs) are bursts of electromagnetic energy that are released when supermassive black holes at the centres of galaxies violently disrupt a star that passes too close1. TDEs provide a windo...
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Chapter
Introduction and Summary
In this chapter I review the landscape of massive-star death, focusing on gamma-ray bursts and their connections to supernovae. I present the status of observational efforts to determine these connections. I a...
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Other Contributions
In this chapter, I summarize my contributions to three projects: the characterization of a fast optical transient with no gamma-ray burst counterpart, the study of circumstellar matter and its possible role in...
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Summary and the Future
In this chapter, I summarize the thesis and suggest avenues for making progress on the questions outlined in Chap. 1.
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Chapter
iPTF Archival Search for Fast Optical Transients
There has been speculation of a class of relativistic explosions with an initial Lorentz factor Γinit smaller than that of classical Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs). These “dirty fireballs” would lack prompt GRB emission...
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Chapter
The Broad-Lined Ic Supernova ZTF18aaqjovh (SN 2018bvw): An Optically Discovered Engine-Driven Supernova Candidate with Luminous Radio Emission
We present ZTF18aaqjovh (SN 2018bvw), a high-velocity (“broad-lined”) stripped-envelope (Type Ic) supernova (Ic-BL SN) discovered in the Zwicky Transient Facility 1-day cadence survey. ZTF18aaqjovh shares a nu...
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Chapter
AT2018cow: A Luminous Millimeter Transient
We present detailed submillimeter—through centimeter—wave observations of the extraordinary extragalactic transient AT2018cow. The apparent characteristics—the high radio luminosity, the rise and long-lived em...
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Chapter
ZTF20aajnksq (AT 2020blt): A Fast Optical Transient at z ≈ 2.9 With No Detected Gamma-Ray Burst Counterpart
We present ZTF20aajnksq (AT 2020blt), a fast-fading (Δr = 2.4 mag in Δt = 1.3 d) red (g − r ≈ 0.6 mag) and luminous (M1626 = −25.9 mag) optical transient at z = 2.9 discovered by the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZT...
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SN 2020bvc: A Broad-Lined Type Ic Supernova with a Double-Peaked Optical Light Curve and a Luminous X-ray and Radio Counterpart
Abstract
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Evidence for Late-Stage Eruptive Mass Loss in the Progenitor to SN 2018gep, a Broad-Lined Ic Supernova: Pre-explosion Emission and a Rapidly Rising Luminous Transient
We present detailed observations of ZTF18abukavn (SN 2018gep), discovered in high-cadence data from the Zwicky Transient Facility as a rapidly rising (1.4 ± 0.1 mag/h) and luminous (Mg,peak = −20 mag) transient. ...
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The Koala: A Fast Blue Optical Transient with Luminous Radio Emission from a Starburst Dwarf Galaxy at z = 0.27
We present ZTF18abvkwla (the “Koala”), a fast blue optical transient discovered in the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) One-Day Cadence (1DC) Survey. ZTF18abvkwla has a number of features in common with the gro...
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Article
Author Correction: Discovery and confirmation of the shortest gamma-ray burst from a collapsar
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Article
Discovery and confirmation of the shortest gamma-ray burst from a collapsar
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are among the brightest and most energetic events in the Universe. The duration and hardness distribution of GRBs has two clusters1, now understood to reflect (at least) two different prog...
