Parallel sessions

Massive stars and their resultant explosive deaths as transients have had a profound impact on the chemical and dynamical history of the Universe. The 21st century continues to furnish us with new and unexpected types of explosive transients on the night sky, and these discoveries are forcing us beyond the classical paradigm of solely radioactively powered supernovae to explain the full gamut of massive stellar deaths. With these new discoveries come equal challenges to understand their explosion mechanisms, and the progenitors that produce them. In this session we aim to bring together experts on massive star evolution and transients to discuss recent findings that can shed light on the mapping between progenitor stars and their supernovae, and on rare evolutionary pathways that are producing new classes of transients. Our focus will be on giving a platform for early-career researchers to present their work in these fields. Topics, covering theory and observation, will include:
- The nucleosynthesis and mass-loss mechanisms of massive stars' in particular, the underlying cause and impact of 'bursty' or enhanced mass loss.
- The production of dense circum-stellar media around massive stars, and their impact on resultant explosive transients.
- The formation of nascent central engines and magnetars in massive stellar-collapse and how they can power some of the most energetic transients such as gamma-ray bursts and superluminous supernovae.
- Population synthesis of massive stellar evolution and the rates of transient classes.
- Studies of explosive transients linked to the deaths of massive stars and their progenitors.
- The environmental impacts of both massive stars and transients via their ionising radiation, stellar winds, and kinetic energy.
- Studies of the compact remnants left behind by massive stellar explosions.