Modern time-domain surveys have uncovered a wealth of diversity in transient sources, populating and enriching the luminosity-timescale parameter space. These include the rapidly evolving AT 2018cow, whose origin is still a mystery, and AT 2018kzr, thought to be a white dwarf - neutron star merger candidate. The transient landscape at the low luminosity end is dotted by diverse events including LBV outbursts, intermediate luminosity red transients, Ca-strong gap transients, and faint Iax supernovae.
I will briefly describe the ATLAS survey and the characteristics of a volume-limited sample of low redshift supernovae within 100 megaparsecs. The sample is used to estimate volumetric rates of Iax supernovae in the local Universe. In particular, the properties and rates of faint Iax supernovae will be discussed. I will also discuss the ATLAS and Pan-STARRS search for electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational wave sources from compact object mergers.
Dr. Shubham Srivastav is a research fellow at Queen's University, Belfast, UK. This seminar is a part of the activities commemorating "75 years of India's Independence: Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav" at ARIES.