Type Iax supernovae (SNe) are low-luminosity and less energetic subclass of thermonuclear SNe. The progenitor system and explosion mechanism of type Iax SNe remain poorly understood. Over the past two decades, only a handful of Type Iax SNe have been discovered. Their photometric and spectroscopic properties suggest a distinct progenitor system compared to normal Type Ia SNe. In this talk, I will focus on several type Iax SNe spanning a wide luminosity range and exhibiting peculiar features. The optical photometric and spectroscopic characteristics of type Iax SNe are consistent with an incomplete deflagration of a white dwarf. Beyond their unusual behavior in the optical domain, they also exhibit peculiar features in the infrared (IR) and mid-infrared (MIR) regions. Additionally, JWST observations further support the possibility that a weak or failed deflagration of a white dwarf could be a possible explosion scenario for type Iax SNe.
Dr. Mridweeka is a National Postdoctoral Fellow (NPDF) at the Indian Institute of
Astrophysics (IIA), specializing in supernova (SN) research, with a primary focus on Type Iax SNe—a rare subclass of thermonuclear explosions. She earned her Ph.D. from ARIES, Nainital, in 2019, after which she joined the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) as a postdoctoral fellow from 2019 to 2021. Following this, she moved to IIA, first as a postdoctoral fellow, and then continued with the awarded NPDF position.
Her research work is primarily focused on the optical observations and analysis of SNe. In recent years, she has started working on the near-infrared
and mid-infrared domains, utilizing data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to gain deeper insights into SN explosions, progenitor
systems, and explosion mechanisms.