10/22/2021
By Joanne Gagnon-Ketchen
For link to join the Physics colloquium contact: Joanne Gagnon-Ketchen
Emily Levesque, Associate Professor, University of Washington will give a talk on "Betelgeuse Is Pretty Cool: Cosmic Questions for our Naked-Eye Neighbor."
Abstract: Betelgeuse's "Great Dimming" in the winter of 2020 quickly became a source of fascination for both professional and amateur astronomers. Drastic enough to be easily detected with the naked eye, the star's drop in brightness was unprecedented in observational memory and revealed the extent to which the workings of red supergiants (RSGs) are still a mystery. RSGs are the coldest and physically-largest members of the massive star population, making them ideal sources for studying the extremes of stellar physics and a key turning point in the evolution of post-main-sequence massive stars. They are also the progenitors of Type II-P supernovae, an intermediate evolutionary phase in the lifetimes of some stripped-envelope supernova progenitors, and a crucial step in the formation of massive binary systems (including those that will ultimately produce compact object binaries and gravitational waves). However, our recent studies of Betelgeuse have forced us to confront the many unanswered questions that still surround RSGs, including their binary fraction and evolution, their place in the larger picture of massive star evolution, and the numerous physical phenomena that drive their variability. Using Betelgeuse and its recent behavior as an archetype, this talk will provide an overview of our current knowledge of RSGs, identify some of the most pressing open questions about these stars, and consider the importance of studying RSGs in the coming decade as the next generation of observatories comes online.
Bio: Emily Levesque is a professor in the University of Washington’s Astronomy department. Her research program combines observations and modeling to improve our overall understanding of how massive stars evolve and die, with a particular interest in these stars' post-main-sequence evolution. Levesque is the recipient of the 2020 Newton Lacy Pierce prize and the 2014 Annie Jump Cannon award from the American Astronomical Society. She was previously a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Colorado at Boulder and earned her Ph.D. in Astronomy from the University of Hawaii and her S.B. in Physics from MIT. Her first popular science book, "The Last Stargazers", was released last year and shares the behind-the-scenes stories of life as a professional astronomer.
Round Table: Please join the speaker for a round-table discussion following the colloquium. The round table will run from 5 to 5:30 p.m.