Wynn Jacobson-Galan (Caltech): "Panchromatic Observations of Extreme Red Supergiant Explosions"

There is now an amalgam of observational evidence that massive stars undergo enhanced and/or eruptive mass-loss in their final years before explosion. Consequently, observations of supernovae during their infancy (~hrs to days post-explosion) represent an unparalleled window into the terminal stages of red supergiant (RSG) evolution. In this talk, I will present multi-wavelength observations of type II SNe whose very early-time ("flash") spectra showed transient, narrow emission lines from the collision of SN ejecta with confined circumstellar material (CSM) around their RSG progenitor stars prior to shock breakout. I will discuss how the combination high-cadence monitoring of infant type II SNe across the electromagnetic spectrum can provide unprecedented insight into both the physics of shock breakout/power as well as the mass-loss histories of RSGs in their twilight years. Finally, I will discuss on-going efforts with ZTF to systematically identify young SNe and the future discovery space for such events with Rubin.