Hagai Perets, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology
When
Refreshments served at 3:00 pm in the 3rd floor atrium
TAP Dynamics Initiative Lecture
Hagai Perets, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology
Visit Dates: September 15-26, 2026
Title: The Origins of Thermonuclear Supernovae and Hypervelocity White Dwarfs
Abstract: Thermonuclear supernovae (SNe) and in particular type Ia SNe play a key role in the production of the elements, the chemical and star-formation evolution of galaxies, and serve to measure the fundamental parameters of the universe. While studied for more than a century, the origins of type Ia SNe are still debated; although they are thought to originate from explosions of white dwarfs (WDs), Variety of different models still fail to reproduce to the observational picture. Moreover, large sky surveys over the last two decades revealed a phletora of novel explosive transients, showing a zoo of thermonuclear transient in which normal type Ia SNe are only one group among may other types of SNe. In this talk I’ll review current observations and models of thermonucelar supernovae, and then present the possible missing pieces and new models for the origins of thermonucelar supernovae. In particular I’ll suggest that hybrid types of WDs formed in interacting binaries and little explored are the key to understanding the origins of thermonuclear supernovae and explain their properties and the large zoo of different types of SNe, from normal typa Ia SNe, to Ca-rich SNe. Furthermore, I’ll show how recent finding of hypervelocity WDs roaming the Galaxy at velocities of thousadns of km/s provide clues for the origins of thermonuclear SNe, and can be naturally explained by mergers of hybrid WDs.
Bio: Hagai Perets is a professor in the physics department of the Technion, Israel, as part of the astrophysics group. He holds an ERC consolidator grant exploring the origins of thermonuclear supernovae. He is also the co-founder and member of the Minerva Center for life under extreme conditions.
He studies supernovae and other explosive transient events as well as study gravitational dynamics at small and large scales; from the dynamics of planetesimals and asteroids in the Solar system and planetary moons to stellar dynamics and evolution of stars and massive black holes in galactic nuclei. He also works on gravitational wave sources, planet formation, astrochemistry, and (non-astrophysics) quantum walks, modeling epidemics, and machine-learning usage for healthcare. He seeks creative graduate students and post-docs; so please contact him for further details. He loves to explore ideas inside and outside science, and is always happy to collaborate.