Dimtrios Kantzas obtained his PhD
Congratulations to Dimitris Kantzas successfully defended his PhD thesis on October 5, 2022! Dimitrios was supervised by Prof. Sera Markoff, but was co-supervised by Jacco Vink. (5/10/2022)
Lei Sun obtains his PhD
On August 27, 2022 Lei Sun (4th from the right) successfully defended his PhD thesis. Lei Sun, who obtained the PhD from Nanjing University was hosted by the UvA for two years and was co-supervised by me. Congratulations to Lei and many thanks for the fruitful collaboration!
IXPE first light image: Cas A!
NASA announced the first light image of IXPE!
I am part of the team that will map Cas A's X-ray polarisation, which will tell us about its magnetic fields.
2022 promises to be an important year for Cas A.
(14/2/2022)
Cas A: the movie!
The results of the recently posted paper "The forward and reverse shock dynamics of Cassiopeia A" (ArXiv:2022.0911)
can be appreciated by this short movie. (14/2/2022)
Shocks dynamics of Cas A
A new preprint on the shock dynamics of Cas A,
based on Chandra data.
It shows that the forward shock is accelerating and the
reverse shock is moving to the center in
the West.
This is best understood using a model with a local density
enhancement recently encountered by the forward shock.
(25/1/2022)
H.E.S.S. finds gamma rays from Kepler's SNR
H.E.S.S. detected Kepler's SNR at the > 4 sigma level.
Its gamma-ray spectrum is best explained by
the presence of cosmic-ray protons.
The paper was coordinated by group member Dmitry Prokhorov.
See ArXiv:2201.05839.
(25/1/2022)
News: IXPE observes Cas A
NASA's
Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer
(IXPE) was successfully launched on December 9, 2021.
It is currently observing its first science target: Cassiopeia A.
The image shows a simulation of what IXPE may observe. I am proud to be
part of the team that will analyse the observations.
(25/1/2022)
Book: Physics and Evolution of Supernova Remnants
In December 2021 my book "Physics and Evolution of Supernova Remnants" was published by Springer. The book can be ordered online through the usual online booksellers, or can be downloaded from Springer.
If you have the book, and have some comments please e-mail me.
I am planning to compile a list of errata.
(25/1/2022)
The youthful gamma-ray spectrum of N132D
H.E.S.S. gamma-ray observations of N132D, a
~2500 yr old supernova remnant, show its
spectrum extends to higher energies than that
of its younger cousin Cas A.
N132D was H.E.S.S.
source
of the month.
The paper was coordinated by my PhD student Rachel Simoni.
(25/1/2022)