Mark Magee
Many stars in the Universe end their lives as white dwarfs and some of those white dwarfs in binary systems will eventually explode as thermonuclear supernovae. Exactly how and why this occurs however remains a mystery, despite the hugely important role thermonuclear supernovae play in many areas of astrophysics. Although thermonuclear supernovae are often considered to be a homogeneous class, more and more diversity is being discovered that only adds to the mystery.
My work includes trying to understand which types of binary systems produce thermonuclear supernovae and the different explosion mechanisms responsible for the supernovae we observe. To do this, I use a combination of observational and theoretical modelling studies. Observationally, my work includes detailed studies of individual objects with extensive data sets and larger studies centred around the properties of specific supernova populations. My theoretical work includes developing sophisticated models for different explosion scenarios that can be be directly tested against observations. I am interested in developing new machine learning techniques to overcome current limitations associated with our analysis techniques and the era of `big data'.
Forthcoming Events
Previous Events
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Thursday, 16th October 2025 - Extreme Thermonuclear Explosions