Neutral hydrogen cavities have been detected in the Milky Way for decades and more recently in other nearby star-forming galaxies. It has been suggested that at least a fraction of them may be expanding supershells driven by the combined mechanical feedback from multiple supernovae occurring in an OB association. Yet most extragalactic cavities had neither a demonstrated expansion velocity nor an identified OB association inside them. In this presentation, we will outline how new multiwavelength observations are providing us with systems to test the theory of supershells driven by the mechanical feedback from multiple supernovae. We shall also discuss the consequences of these recent results in the context of supernova feedback, propagating star formation and particle acceleration.

After the Big Bang, production of heavy elements in the early Universe takes place in the first stars and their supernova explosions. The nature of the first supernovae, however, has not been well understood. The signature of nucleosynthesis yields of the first supernovae can be seen in the elemental abundance patterns observed in extremely metal-poor stars. Interestingly, those abundance patterns show some peculiarities relative to the solar abundance pattern, which should provide important clues to understanding the nature of early generations of supernovae. We review the recent results of the nucleosynthesis yields of massive stars. We examine how those yields are affected by some hydrodynamical effects during the supernova explosions, namely, explosion energies from those of hypernovae to faint supernovae, mixing and fallback of processed materials, asphericity, etc. Those parameters in the supernova nucleosynthesis models are constrained from observational data of supernovae and metal-poor stars.

We have presented the observations of O VI absorption at 1032 Å towards 22 sightlines in 10 superbubbles (SBs) of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) using the data obtained from the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE). The estimated abundance of O VI in the SBs varies from a minimum of (1.09 ±0.22)×1014 atoms/cm2 in SB N206 to a maximum of (3.71±0.23)×1014 atoms/cm2 in SB N70. We find about a 46% excess in the abundance of O VI in the SBs compared to the non-SB lines of sight. Even inside a SB, O VI column density (N(O VI)) varies by about a factor of 2 to 2.5. These data are useful in understanding the nature of the hot gas in SBs.

We present spectroscopic analysis of 63 type II supernovae. We present preliminary results on correlations between spectroscopic and photometric properties, focusing on light-curve decline rates, absolute magnitudes and Hα lines profiles. We found the ratio of absorption to emission of Hα P-Cygni profile as the dominant measured parameter as it has the highest median correlation with all other parameters.

We study the r-process path at temperatures from 1.0–3.0 × 109K and neutron number density from 1020-1030cm−3. At low density of 1020 cm−3 and T9 = 2.0, the path contains all the elements as given by experimental data of Wapstra et al. (2003). The element 98Cf254 shown by supernova light curves is found in our results. We take iron (Z = 26) as seed for calculation of abundances for supernova.

UBVRI photometry and low resolution optical spectroscopy of the type IIb SN 2011dh in M51 are presented, covering the first year after the explosion. The peak absolute magnitude in V-band of −17.12±0.18 mag indicates SN 2011dh to be a normal bright type IIb event. The peak quasi-bolometric luminosity indicates that ~ 0.06 M⊙ of 56Ni was synthesized in the explosion. The He I lines were detected in the spectra much before the maximum light in B-band. The nebular spectra of SN 2011dh show a box shaped emission in the red wing of [OI] 6300, 6363 line due to Hα emission excited because of shock-wave interaction. The analysis of the nebular spectra indicates a progenitor with a main sequence mass of 10-15 M⊙.

We present progenitor mass constraints on supernovae (SNe), from correlations with star-forming regions within host galaxies. Through a pixel statistics method used together with H-alpha imaging of host galaxies, we present a progenitor mass sequence running from supernovae type Ia (SNIa) arising from the lowest, through SNII, SNIb, and finally SNIc arising from the highest mass progenitors, implied from an increasing association of their explosion sites with star formation (SF). We also present constraints on the various core-collapse (CC) sub-types, finding the perhaps surprising result that SNIIn show the lowest degree of association with SF of any CC type, implying relatively low-mass progenitors. Finally, we compare the SNIIn environment distribution to that of SNIa, posing the provocative question that additional SNIIn may be linked to the SNIa phenomenon where the latter's spectra are hidden beneath that of circumstellar material (CSM) interaction.

The Cygnus Loop supernova remnant serves as an excellent laboratory for the study of radiative and non-radiative shocks with speeds in the 150–450 km s−1 range. We present results on shock-excited emission and dust destruction based on Spitzer Space Telescope observations of two well-studied regions in the remnant, (i) a non-radiative shock filament along the NE limb, and (ii) the XA region, characterized by emission from bright radiative shocks.

As has been shown previously, the triple-ring nebula around SN 1987A can be understood as a direct consequence of the merger of two stars, some 20,000 yr before the explosion. Here we present new SPH simulations that also include the pre-merger mass loss and show that this may be able to explain other structures observed around SN 1987A, such as Napoleon's hat and various light echoes.

Light echoes, light from a variable source scattered off dust, have been observed for over a century. The recent discovery of light echoes around centuries-old supernovae in the Milky Way and the Large Magellanic Cloud have allowed the spectroscopic characterization of these events, even without contemporaneous photometry and spectroscopy using modern instrumentation. Here we review the recent scientific advances using light echoes of ancient and historic transients, and focus on our latest work on SN 1987A's and Eta Carinae's light echoes.

We present the results 12CO J = 1–0 line observations of eleven Galactic supernova remnants (SNRs) between l = 70° and 190° obtained using the Seoul Radio Astronomy Observatory (SRAO) 6-m radio telescope. We detected CO emission towards most of the remnants. In seven SNRs, molecular clouds show a good spatial relation with their radio morphology: G73.9+0.9, G84.2−0.8, G85.4+0.7, G85.9−0.6, G93.3+6.9 (DA530), 94.0+1.0 (3C 434.1), and G182.4+4.3. Two SNRs are particularly interesting. In G85.4+0.7, there is a filamentary molecular cloud aligned along the south-east boundary of the remnant. This cloud extends to the nearby Hii region G84.9+0.5. If the molecular cloud is associated with both the Hii region and the SNR, the distance to the SNR would be 5–7 kpc. In 3C 434.1, there is a large molecular cloud blocking the western half of the remnant where the radio continuum emission is faint. The cloud shows a very good spatial correlation with radio continuum features, which strongly suggests the physical association of the cloud with the SNR. This gives a distance of 3 kpc to the SNR. We performed 12CO J = 2–1 line observations of this cloud using Kölner Observatorium für Sub-Millimeter Astronomie (KOSMA) 3-m telescope and found a region where the 12CO J = 2–1/1–0 line ratio is high. We present a hydrodynamic model showing that 3C434.1 could have resulted from a SN explosion occurred just outside the boundary of a thin, molecular cloud.

We report the preliminary results for the detection of H2 and [Fe II] line features around the Galactic supernova remnants (SNRs) from the UWISH2 and UWIFE surveys that cover the first galactic quadrant of 7°<l<65° and |b|<1.3°. By this time, we have found a total of 17 H2-emitting and 14 [Fe II]-emitting SNRs in the coverage, and more than a half of them are detected in both H2 and [Fe II] emissions, which implies that the environment of these SNRs might be complex and composed of multi-phase medium. In this paper, we present our identification strategy and some preliminary results including H2 and [Fe II] luminosity distributions.

The UBVRI photometric follow-up of SN 2011fu has been initiated a few days after the explosion, shows a rise followed by steep decay in all bands and shares properties very similar to that seen in case of SN 1993J, with a possible detection of the adiabatic cooling phase at very early epochs. The spectral modeling performed with SYNOW suggests that the early-phase line velocities for H and Fe ii features were ~ 16000 km s−1 and ~ 14000 km s−1, respectively. Studies of rare class of type IIb SNe are important to understand the evolution of the possible progenitors of core-collapse SNe in more details.

Supernova statistics, establishing a direct link between stellar populations and explosion scenarios, is a crucial test of stellar evolution theory. Nowadays, a number of SN searches in the local Universe and at high redshifts are allowing observational probes of long standing theoretical scenarios. I will briefly review some of the most interesting results in particular for what concern the evolution with cosmic time of the SN rate, which is one of the topic that in the last few years had a most rapid development.

Supernovae are the dominant source of stellar feedback, which plays an important role in regulating galaxy formation and evolution. While this feedback process is still quite uncertain, it is probably not due to individual supernova remnants as commonly observed. Most supernovae likely take place in low-density, hot gaseous environments, such as superbubbles and galactic bulges, and typically produce no long-lasting bright remnants. I review recent observational and theoretical work on the impact of such supernovae on galaxy ecosystems, particularly on hot gas in superbubbles and galactic spheroids.

We report here on the first dedicated simultaneous imaging and pulsar observations towards the supernova remnant (SNR) G15.4+0.1, the possible counterpart of the very high energy (VHE) source HESS J1818–154. The observations were carried out using the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) at 610 and 1400 MHz. Preliminary analysis of data suggests absence of pulsations towards the centroid of HESS J1818–154, with upper limits of 0.6 and 0.3 mJy at 610 and 1400 MHz, respectively. Analysis of data with a larger beam is in progress, which may confirm the presence of a putative pulsar and its wind nebula if it is offset from the centroid of HESS J1818–154.

The one-in-a-life-time event Supernova SN 1987A, the brightest supernova seen since Kepler's in 1604, has given us a unique opportunity to study the mechanics of a supernova explosion and now to witness the birth of a supernova remnant. A violent encounter is underway between the fastest-moving debris and the circumstellar ring: shocks excite “hotspots”. ATCA/ANTF, Gemini, VLT, HST, Spitzer, Chandra, and recently ALMA observations have been so far organized to help understanding the several emission mechanisms at work. In the mid-infrared SN 1987A has transformed from a SN with the bulk of its radiation from the ejecta to a SNR whose emission is dominated by the interaction of the blast wave with the surrounding interstellar medium, a process in which kinetic energy is converted into radiative energy. Currently this remnant emission is dominated by material in or near the inner equatorial ring (ER). We give here a brief history of our mid-infrared observations, and present our last data obtained with the SPITZER infrared satellite and the ESO VLT and Gemini telescopes: we show how together with Chandra observations, they contribute to the understanding of this fascinating object. We argue also that our imaging observations suggest that warm dust is still present in the ejecta, and we dispute the presence of huge amount of very cold dust in it, as it has been claimed on the basis of data obtained with the HERSCHELl satellite.

We present the results from a comprehensive analysis of a Type Ib supernova (SN) 2007uy in a nearby galaxy NGC 2770 (~30 Mpc), using data from space-based Swift/UVOT, along with ground-based observations at visible, infrared and radio wave bands.

The Sino-German λ6 cm polarization survey has mapped in total intensity and polarization intensity over an area of approximately 2200 square degrees in the Galactic disk. This survey provides an opportunity to search for Galactic supernova remnants (SNRs) that were previously unknown. We discovered the new SNRs G178.2−4.2 and G25.1−2.3 which have non-thermal spectra, using the λ6 cm data together with the observations with the Effelsberg telescope at λ11 cm and λ21 cm. Both G178.2−4.2 and G25.1−2.3 are faint and have an apparent diameter greater than 1°. G178.2−4.2 shows a polarized shell. HI data suggest that G25.1−2.3 might have a distance of about 3 kpc. The λ6 cm survey data were also very important to identify two other new SNRs, G152.4−2.1 and G190.9−2.2.

Supernova remnant shocks are strong candidates for being the source of energetic cosmic rays and hadron acceleration is expected to increase the shock compression ratio, providing higher post-shock densities. We exploited the deep observations of the XMM-Newton Large Program on SN 1006 to verify this prediction. Spatially resolved spectral analysis led us to detect X-ray emission from the shocked ambient medium in SN 1006 and to find that its density significantly increases in regions where particle acceleration is efficient. Our results provide evidence for the effects of acceleration of cosmic ray hadrons on the post-shock plasma in supernova remnants.