Faint+and+Fast+Transients

Faint and Fast Transients

Organized by Mansi Kasliwal and Lars Bildsten

In the past five years, systematic searches, serendipitous discoveries, and archival searches have yielded over a dozen transients that are brighter than novae, but fainter than supernovae. The observed properties of these transients tend to break them up into distinct classes, with some about 100 times brighter than novae with durations of nearly 100 days (e.g. M85 OT, PTF10fqs), and others (such as SN2002bj and PTF10bhp) that nearly reach supernovae luminosities, but fade in 5 days. The state of theoretical understanding ranges across the class of objects and is ripe for progress. This workshop will begin with a brief, executive summary of the observational discoveries and theoretical models of transients in the gap. This will be followed by a round table discussion of the observed classes; their possible theoretical models; and paths forward (both observationally and theoretically) to developing a coherent understanding of these explosions and their place in stellar evolution.


 * Outline for 90min roundtable session:**
 * Calcium-rich Halo Transients (7 min Mark + 15 min Discussion (Kate/Mansi) )
 * ".Ia" Explosions (7 min Lars + 8 min Discussion)
 * NS-NS and NS-WD Binaries (7 min Metzger + 8 min Discussion)
 * Low Velocity Transients (7 min Moriya + 8 min Discussion)
 * Intermediate Luminosity Red Transients (7 min Bond + 8 min Discussion)
 * General Discussion (8 min)