Research Division Seminar
Supergiants with an Interesting Past

Dr. Alexey Bobrick

Abstract

Exciting things may have happened sometimes to the stars we see in the sky today. For example, Betelgeuse, also known as Alpha-Ori, an M-type red supergiant, the 10th brightest sky in the sky (usually), may well have been a binary star in the past. Its rapid rotation, peculiarly large Galactic velocity, and unusual chemical abundances all point to it being kicked out from the birth environment and merging as a binary star. By comparing a Monte-Carlo stellar cluster population model with the observed populations of Galactic O- and B- type stars (progenitors of red supergiants), I will show that the story of Betelgeuse is not at all uncommon. In distant galaxies, closely related scenarios may give rise to peculiar core-collapse supernovae. I will conclude by briefly discussing how the diversity of such binary and triple stellar evolution histories reflects in the variety of the currently discovered core-collapse supernovae.

About the talk

Supergiants with an Interesting Past
Dr. Alexey Bobrick
Technion University, Israel
Thursday October 13, 2022 - 10:30 GMT+1  (Online)
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About the speaker

Dr. Alexey Bobrick recently received his PhD in astrophysics from Lund University in Sweden. He did his masters in theoretical physics in Minsk and is currently a postdoctoral ERC fellow in the Hagai Perets group in Israel. Alexey works on interactions in giant and compact binary stars at various evolutionary stages.

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