The Physics of Supernova Explosions

The modern study of supernovae involves many aspects: presupernova stellar evolution, the physics of the explosions themselves, observations at all wavelengths of the outbursts and their remnants, nuc1eosynthesis and the chemical evolution of galaxies, interaction with the interstellar medium, cosmic-ray acceleration, supernovae as distance indicators, and other potentially observable phenomena such as neutrino bursts, gravitational radiation, and the emissions of a white dwarf collapsing directly to a neutron star. In this review, although touching on a number of these topics, we are chiefly concerned with the physical processes currently held responsible for the explosion and radiation of Type I and II supernovae and the observable diagnostics of the models: energetics, nucleosynthesis, light curves, and spectra. Discussions of a broader nature appear elsewhere (Trimble 1982, 1983, Rees & Stoneham 1982, Branch 1986a, Helfand & Becker 1984). Here, if for no reasons other than space limitations, we focus on recent developments in our theoretical understanding of how supernovae work, especially insight achieved during the last very fruitful decade (see also Arnett 1978a, Sugimoto & Nomoto 1980, Wheeler 198 1 , 1 982, Weaver & Woosley 1 980a, Woosley & Weaver 1 98 1 , Chevalier 198 1 a, Brown et al. 1982, Imshennik & Nadezhin 1983, Hillebrandt 1984, Nomoto 1 985a, Bethe & Brown 1985), and, perhaps at the expense of