Supernova VLBI in the present and with the SKA

TL;DR

This paper discusses the potential of VLBI technology, especially with upcoming telescopes like the SKA, to image supernovae at unprecedented resolutions, enabling insights into supernova evolution, neutron star formation, and cosmic-ray acceleration.

Contribution

It presents recent VLBI imaging results of supernovae and evaluates how future telescopes like the SKA will enhance supernova observations.

Findings

VLBI can image supernovae with sub-milliarcsecond resolution.

Upcoming telescopes will significantly increase VLBI sensitivity.

Enhanced VLBI will improve understanding of supernova evolution and related phenomena.

Abstract

VLBI is the only technology that will allow sub-milliarcsecond resolution imaging in the near future. As such, it is the only way to image expanding supernovae in nearby galaxies. Such images potentially allow us to study the early evolution of neutron stars or black holes left behind by core-collapse supernovae, the circumstellar wind history of the supernova progenitor stars, the shock acceleration of cosmic-ray particles in supernovae as well as the evolutionary process by which supernova shells merge into, and enrich, the ISM. I will discuss the results of the on-going VLBI imaging campaigns on supernovae 1986J and 1993J. I will also discuss the impact on supernova VLBI of the proposed South-African Karoo Array Telescope and Australian ASKAP arrays, as well as the SKA itself, as these telescopes will greatly increase the sensitivity of the global VLBI network.