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N. A. Reddy, P. A. Hoeflich, J. C. Wheeler (University of Texas at Austin)
The traditional use of spectral analysis and light curve calculations to study core-collapse supernovae do not provide much insight into the geometry of the expanding matter. Asymmetries in the explosion, if present, are best studied by examining the spectropolarimetry of supernovae. One qualitative conclusion from these studies is that core-collapse supernovae are linearly polarized at about the 1% level. In addition, the polarization is found to increase with decreasing H or He envelope mass, suggesting that the explosion mechanism itself is strongly asymmetric. Our intent is to determine the asymmetries in these events. The main expectation from this work is a basis ``grid" of type II supernovae atmospheres that will aid in classifying the photospheres of exploding stars.
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