Program: GN-2010A-Q-30

Title:Exotic Explosions and Eruptions: Exploring a New Transient Phase-Space with Pan-STARRS
PI:Edo Berger
Co-I(s): Kathy Roth, Christopher Stubbs, Alicia Soderberg, Gautham Narayan, Wen-fai Fong, Ryan Foley, Armin Rest, David Sand

Abstract

For over a century two classes of optical transients have been studied in detail - nova eruptions and supernova explosions, of which hundreds are known. Both classes occupy narrow ranges of luminosities around -8 and -18 mag (+/-2 mag), respectively. However, in recent years several transients have been discovered in the wide nova-SN gap and at high luminosity (M<-20mag), suggesting that a large population of new transients remains to be discovered. The origin of these events is hotly debated. They have been argued to represent massive star eruptions, deficient white dwarf thermonuclear explosions, the explosions of eta Carina-like stars, and possibly new kinds of SN mechanisms (pair-instability). The Pan-STARRS project, now in operation, provides an unprecedented opportunity to explore this sparsely-sampled phase space thanks to its depth and areal coverage. As members of the Pan-STARRS consortium we propose here TOO spectroscopy of such events to classify and characterize their origin.

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