Explanation of ILRT's

The LA Times reported this weekend that astronomers can now explain intermediate luminosity red transients (ILRTs).  ILRT's are stellar bursts whose luminosities are between novae and supernovae.  They appear very red and are short-lived (STSCI).  Previously, some astronomers theorized that they result from two stars in a very close orbit that temporarily share a common envelope, referred to as a common envelope event or CEE, but there was no direct evidence (STSCI, Ivanova et al.).  Because CEE's are short-lived, astronomers thought it was improbable they would ever directly observe one, but in the paper by Ivanova et al., published Thursday in the journal Science¹, they propose a direct observational signature of a CEE, and these observations are in agreement with computer simulations based on the previous theories. 

I recommend the STSCI website provided below.  It provides more information than the LA Times article (also included), but is less technical than the paper published in the journal.  The paper has supplemental material available in the online version of Science.  This so far seems slightly more understandable, but it is very long.  It does have some cool computer simulations.  I have provided the link for that as well.

NOTE: if you have trouble accessing the supplemental material, you may need to be on campus or sign in to vpn through the UCR Libraries.  I also provided a link to view all the sources cited - some of them are free to download, so you don't have to sign in.

¹Identification of the Long-Sought Common-Envelope Events

N. Ivanova et al.

DOI: 10.1126/science.1225540

Science 339, 433 (2013)

Supplemental material and computer simulations: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/suppl/2013/01/23/339.6118.433.DC1

Space Telescope Science Institute (STSCI):  https://blogs.stsci.edu/newsletter/2011/11/21/miniworkshop-on-the-astrophysics-of-intermediate-luminosity-red-transients/

Click this link to see the LA Times article:  http://www.latimes.com/news/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-common-envelope-events-20130124,0,1637211.story?track=rss 

List of sources cited in the journal:  http://www.sciencemag.org/content/339/6118/433.full.html#ref-list-1