A decades-old theory of stellar evolution — that the most massive stars end their life in a peculiar type of explosion termed a pair-instability supernova — finally seems to have been confirmed by observations.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Krauss, L. M. Nature 329, 689–694 (1987).
Gal-Yam, A. et al. Nature 462, 624–627 (2009).
Heger, A., Fryer, C. L., Woosley, S. E., Langer, N. & Hartmann, D. H. Astrophys. J. 591, 288–300 (2003).
Woosley, S. & Janka, T. Nature Phys. 1, 147–154 (2005).
Fowler, W. A. & Hoyle, F. Astrophys. J. (Suppl.) 9, 201–319 (1964).
Heger, A. & Woosley, S. E. Astrophys. J. 567, 532–543 (2002).
Woosley, S. E., Blinnikov, S. & Heger, A. Nature 450, 390–392 (2007).
Bond, J. R., Arnett, W. D. & Carr, B. J. Astrophys. J. 280, 825–847 (1984).
Glatzel, W., El Eid, M. F. & Fricke, K. J. Astron. Astrophys. 149, 413–422 (1985).
El Eid, M. F. & Langer, N. Astron. Astrophys. 167, 274–281 (1986).
Meynet, G., Maeder, A., Schaller, G., Schaerer, D. & Charbonnel, C. Astron. Astrophys. (Suppl.) 103, 97–105 (1994).
Langer, N. et al. Astron. Astrophys. 290, 819–833 (1994).
Young, D. R. et al. Astron. Astrophys. (in the press); preprint at http://arxiv.org/abs/0910.2248.
Vink, J. S. & de Koter, A. Astron. Astrophys. 442, 587–596 (2005).
Gräfener, G. & Hamann, W.-R. Astron. Astrophys. 482, 945–960 (2008).
Langer, N. et al. Astron. Astrophys. 475, L19–L23 (2007).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Langer, N. Different stellar demise. Nature 462, 579–580 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/462579a
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/462579a