Summary
Prof. Peter Meikle is internationally recognised as a pioneer of the infrared study of supernovae. For over 25 years, he and his team at Imperial College London have carried out infrared investigations of all types of supernovae. This includes late-time spectroscopic studies providing, for example, key evidence for (a) the production of large masses of iron-group elements in supernova explosions, (b) strong mixing in core-collapse supernova ejecta, possibly caused by neutrino convection, and (c) radioactive decay as the late-time luminosity source of most supernovae. His group''''s studies of near-infrared continua produced the first evidence of the IR-echo phenomenon in core-collapse supernovae, and he is currently working on observation-based techniques for identifying dust condensation in core-collapse supernova ejecta. His team formed a major component of the European Type Ia Supernova Network (2002-6), which provided a significant improvement in the supernova database and subsequent understanding of the physics of Type Ia supernovae. He also led a project to extend the use of Type Ia supernovae as cosmological distance indicators into the rest-frame infrared. Most recently he has led a major international collaboration to use the Spitzer Space Telescope to pioneer the mid-infrared study of all types of supernovae. This study has attracted the largest amount of observing time of any UK-led Spitzer programme.
Invited Lectures and Presentations
13 Sep 2001: "Types of Type Ia Supernovae at Low and High Redshift" at conference on "A New Era in Cosmology", Durham, UK.
10 January 2003: "Nucleosynthesis in Type Ia Supernovae" at meeting on "Nucleosynthesis and early chemical evolution in galaxies", Royal Astronomical Society, London, UK
19 June 2004: "Multiband Observations of Type Ia Supernovae at Late Times" at conference on "Supernovae as Cosmological Lighthouses", Padua, Italy.
8 April 2005: "Supernova Studies with the Spitzer Space Telescope" at National Astronomy Meeting, Birmingham, UK.
31 May 2005: "The Observation of Dust in Supernova Explosions" at American Astronomical Society Meeting, Minneapolis, USA.
26 October 2005: "Observations of Core-Collapse Supernovae at Late Epochs" at IoP meeting on "Supernovae", Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, UK.
10 November 2005: "Core-Collapse Supernovae and their Progenitors - Spitzer Observations of Dust and Molecules" at meeting on "Core-collapse supernovae and their massive progenitors", Royal Astronomical Society, London.
Publications
Journals
Mattila S, Pérez-Torres M, Efstathiou A, et al., 2018, A dust-enshrouded tidal disruption event with a resolved radio jet in a galaxy merger, Science, Vol:361, ISSN:0036-8075, Pages:482-485
Kankare E, Kotak R, Mattila S, et al., 2017, A population of highly energetic transient events in the centres of active galaxies, Nature Astronomy, Vol:1, ISSN:2397-3366, Pages:865-871
Mattila S, Fraser M, Smartt SJ, et al., 2013, Supernovae and radio transients in M82, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol:431, ISSN:0035-8711, Pages:2050-2062
Wang X, Wang L, Filippenko AV, et al., 2012, EVIDENCE FOR TYPE Ia SUPERNOVA DIVERSITY FROM ULTRAVIOLET OBSERVATIONS WITH THE <i>HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE</i>, Astrophysical Journal, Vol:749, ISSN:0004-637X
Meikle WPS, Kotak R, Farrah D, et al., 2011, DUST AND THE TYPE II-PLATEAU SUPERNOVA 2004dj, Astrophysical Journal, Vol:732, ISSN:0004-637X