The Death of Massive Stars is manifest as core collapse supernovae (CCSNe) and gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Supernovae (SNe) are a key element in our understanding of stellar evolution, chemical enrichment, and the role they play in triggering star formation. Likewise, since GRBs are the brightest beacons they are strong signposts for determining the star formation rate over large cosmic distances. In a few rare cases, a firm connection between these objects has been established; in all these cases the SN resulted from the explosion of a highly stripped star (Type Ic SN), was very luminous, and exhibited a larger-than-usual kinetic energy (up to one magnitude more than in a normal SN explosion). In contrast, there are clear cases in which no bright SN was found to be associated with a GRB, and vice versa. The quest in understanding SNe and GRBs, and the connection between them, has raised many questions, which will be reviewed at the symposium.
This symposium is coming at a very opportune time as new results and forthcoming surveys related to SNe and GRBs will be available in an era of new and proposed facilities such as the Advanced LIGO, Energetic X-ray Imaging Survey Telescope (EXIST), Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope, IceCube, Joint Astrophysics Nascent Universe Satellite (JANUS), Joint Dark Energy Mission (JDEM), JWST, Pan-Starrs, and Space multi-band Variable Object Monitor (SVOM).
