The Role of Inhomogeneities in Supernova Shock Breakout Emission

TL;DR

This paper investigates how inhomogeneities in a star's immediate environment affect the shock breakout emission in supernovae, using advanced multi-dimensional simulations to improve understanding of observational signals.

Contribution

It introduces multi-dimensional radiation-hydrodynamics simulations of supernova shock interactions with inhomogeneous surroundings, revealing their impact on shock breakout signals.

Findings

Inhomogeneities significantly alter shock breakout emission.

Simulations show complex shock interactions with surrounding structures.

Results help interpret supernova observations more accurately.

Abstract

The breakout of a supernova blast wave from its progenitor star provides strong constraints on the star and its immediate surroundings. These surroundings are shaped by mass loss from the star and can include a wide variety of inhomogeneities. Here we present results of multi-dimensional radiation-hydrodynamics calculations of the interactions of the supernova blast wave with inhomogeneities in the immediate surroundings of a massive Wolf-Rayet star, calculating the effect these interactions have on the shock breakout signal from supernovae.