John Bahcall Colloquium
Prof. Shri Kulkarni 
Caltech

Date: Dec. 21, 2008

Title: Cosmic Explosions

Abstract:

Many of us think that the heavens are serene and calm. However,
most of the interesting things in the universe starting from the
birth of the Universe happen during explosions.  The most notable
cosmic explosions are supernovae which mark the death of massive
stars.  During the explosion heavy elements (critical for our
existence) are created. Cosmic explosions, thanks to their brilliance,
allow astronomers to probe the young Universe and even infer the
existence of dark energy. Over the past decade astronomers have
uncovered new types of cosmic explosions.  The speaker will summarize
these new developments in the field of cosmic explosions (namely
gamma-ray bursts) and proceed to speculate on yet new classes of
cosmic explosions. Such a discussion is timely given the imminent
commissioning of wide angle optical and radio surveys of the Sky.