Neutrino telescopes such as IceCube monitor for low-energy neutrinos O(10 MeV) produced in nuclear processes during core-collapse in supernovae. The detection horizon to the neutrino burst is 50 kpc, the distance to the Magellanic Clouds. However, this limits the number of supernovae accessible through low-energy neutrino detection, as the Galactic rate is only <img src="http://www.diva-portal.org/cgi-bin/mimetex.cgi?%5Csim" data-classname="equation" data-title="" />2 per century. Some models predict the production of high-energy O(&gt;GeV) neutrinos through acceleration mechanisms, such as the ejecta colliding with the circumstellar material or relativistic jets in the stellar envelope. This thesis examines how these high-energy neutrinos could be exploited with neutrino telescopes like IceCube to extend the detection horizon to core-collapse supernovae past the Magellanic clouds. To examine the detection horizon for IceCube, we use two data samples, one utilizing muon tracks which provide good sensitivity in the northern sky, and the other all flavor starting events, which provide good sensitivity in the southern sky. We demonstrate that extending the reach past 50 kpc and well into the 10s of Mpc is possible, where the expected rate is more than two core-collapse supernovae per year.

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The discovery of several bright supernovae (SNe) in recent years has evoked a great deal of interest in these objects. The study of these objects are of importance not only as probes to the end stages of stellar evolution, but also as probes for cosmology. Though the basic classification of supernovae was restricted to type I and type II, pecularities became apparent over the last two decades that have been confirmed into new classes, currently designated as types Ia, Ib, Ic, IIL, IIP, IIn and IIb. Diversity in the behaviour of supernovae within a class has also become apparent, such as photometric and spectroscopic sequence in type Ia, and the existence of the super-luminous‚ hypernovae‚ which, at times are found to be associated with GRB events. Core collapse supernovae are the end stages of most stars, more massive than ~ 8M . As such, they provide a key test of stellar evolution. Further, they play a major role in driving the chemical and dynamical evolution of galaxies, and have also been proposed to be major contributors to dust epochs when the Universe was still young. SNe explosions provide unique natural laboratories for studying, in real time, the physics of a variety of combustion, hydrodynamic, nuclear and atomic processes. All subclasses of SNe, except for type Ia, are core collapse events. The differences in the observed properties of the various subclasses, and even within a single subclass, may be attributed to the progenitor mass, metallicity and environment. The light curve and the spectral development would enable obtaining certain critical parameters related to the progenitor. It is hence important to study individual SNe events. The aim of this work is to (a) study the individual objects in detail and obtain critical parameters such as the radioactive Nickel mass ejected during the explosion, the mass of the ejected material, velocity with which the material has been ejected, the explosion energy and the distance to the supernova; (b) estimate progenitor mass and radius; (c) group the individual events according to certain common properties and inter-compare the properties of the various groups to arrive at a possible evolutionary sequence of the progenitors. This thesis consists of 6 chapters. Chapter 1 gives a general introduction to the evolution of massive stars and supernovae. Chapter 2 describes the telescope and instrument, observations and reduction procedures. All data were obtained using the 2m Himalayan Chandra Telescope (HCT), Hanle, India. The technical details of telescope and instrument are given in the chapter. This chapter also discusses in detail the various techniques used in photometric and spectroscopic data reductions. Chapter 3 discusses the properties of Type IIP supernovae with a detailed study of SN 2004A and SN 2008in. The distances to the supernovae are estimated using the Standard Candle Method (SCM) (Hamuy & Pinto, 2002) and the Expanding Photosphere Method (EPM)( Krishner & Kwan, 1974, 1975, Hamuy et al. 2001) . In addition, the explosion energy, radius of progenitor, the nickel mass and the mass ejected during the explosion are estimated using the observed light curves and the spectra (Hamuy 2003, Elmahamdi 2003, Litvinova & Nadyozhin 1985). The progenitor mass is also estimated based on the estimate of the ejected mass. Chapter 4 describes the evolution of the Type IIn supernova SN2005kd, which is characterized by narrow emission lines in the early spectra. Some Type IIn supernovae show a plateau phase in the light curve, and SN 2005kd is of this kind. The narrow emission lines in the spectra show that the SN ejecta interacted with the pre-supernova circumstellar material that is a result of mass loss from the progenitor during its evolution. Chapter 5 discusses the properties of stripped envelope core collapse supernovae using the observations of type Ib/c supernovae SN 2006jc, SN 2007ru, and SN 2009jf. SN 2006jc was found to be peculiar, with narrow He I emission lines arising due to the SN ejecta interaction with a helium enriched pre-supernova circumstellar material. SN 2007ru shows very broad lines in the spectra indicating a velocity of 20,000 kms−1 . The light curve evolution of SN 2007ru indicates a fast rise time and post-maximum decline more rapid than other broad-line Ic supernovae. The light curves of SN 2009jf are broad, with slow decline, indicating the presence of massive ejecta. He I line is identified with velocity of 16,000 km−1 . The photometric and spectroscopic evolution of all the above SNe are described in detail and compared with other similar supernovae. The various physical parameters related to the explosion and progenitors of SNe are also estimated. Chapter 6 is devoted to conclusions and future plans for the work in this thesis.

Les sources transitoires sont souvent associées aux phénomènes les plus violents de l’Univers, où l’accélération de hadrons peut avoir lieu. Parmi ces sources, les sursauts gamma, les noyaux actifs de galaxie ou encore les supernovae à effondrement de coeur sont des candidats prometteurs pour la production de rayons cosmiques et de neutrinos de haute énergie. Le télescope ANTARES, situé au fond de la Méditerranée, a pour but de détecter ces neutrinos, qui pourraient révéler la présence d’une source de rayons cosmiques. Cependant, pour augmenter la sensibilité aux sources transitoires, une méthode basée sur le suivi multi-longueur d’onde d’alertes neutrino a été développée au sein de la collaboration ANTARES. Ce programme, TAToO, permet de déclencher un réseau de télescopes optiques et l’instrument XRT du satellite Swift seulement quelques secondes après la détection d’un neutrino par ANTARES. Les télescopes commencent un programme d’observation de la région du ciel correspondante pour tenter de détecter une contrepartie optique ou X à l’évènement neutrino. Les travaux présentés dans cette thèse portent sur le développement et la mise en place d’un programme d’analyse d’images optiques, ainsi que sur l’analyse de données optiques et X obtenues lors des observations par les différents télescopes, pour identifier des sources transitoires rapides, telles que les émissions rémanentes de sursauts gamma, ou lentes, telles que les supernovae à effondrement de coeur. / Transient sources are often associated with the most violent phenomena in the Universe, where the acceleration of hadrons may occur. Such sources include gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), active galactic nuclei (AGN) or core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe), and are promising candidates for the production of high energy cosmic rays and neutrinos. The ANTARES telescope, located in the Mediterranean sea, aims at detecting these high energy neutrinos, which could reveal the presence of a cosmic ray accelerator. However, to enhance the sensitivity to transient sources, a method based on multi-wavelength follow-up of neutrino alerts has been developed within the ANTARES collaboration. This program, denoted as TAToO, triggers a network of robotic optical telescopes and the Swift-XRT with a delay of only few seconds after a neutrino detection. The telescopes start an observation program of the corresponding region of the sky in order to detect a possible electromagnetic counterpart to the neutrino event. The works presented in this thesis cover the development and implementation of an optical image analysis pipeline, as well as the analysis of optical and X-ray data to search for fast transient sources, such as GRB afterglows, and slowly varying transient sources, such as CCSNe.

La thèse porte sur l’étude des supernovae à effondrement de coeur (CCSN). D’abord, nous avons cherché à modéliser la composition du coeur de l’étoile massive lors de son effondrement. Nous avons élaboré un nouveau traitement de l’équilibre statistique nucléaire à partir d’une équation d’état basée sur l’approximation de noyau unique (Lattimer et Swesty, LS). Cela permet d’obtenir une description plus réaliste de la distribution des noyaux constitutifs du coeur et de quantifier plus spécifiquement le rôle des masses nucléaires. Les distributions obtenues avec la fonctionnelle de masse originelle (LS) et celles obtenues à partir des modèles de masse tels que HFB-24 et DZ10 ont été comparées pour plusieurs conditions thermodynamiques d’une trajectoire typique de CCSN. Les différences de composition pouvant conduire à des déviations sur le taux de capture électronique allant jusqu’à ∼25%, il est apparu important de définir un modèle de masse réaliste à utiliser pour la simulation de CCSN. Pour cela, nous avons réalisé des mesures de masse de précision dans la région d’intérêt, avec un double piège de Penning auprès de l’installation IGISOL (située à Jyväskylä, Finlande). Cinq nouveaux excès de masse ont été déterminés pour les noyaux suivants : 69m,70Co, 74,75Ni et 76mCu. La précision a été améliorée pour cinq autres : 67Fe, 69Co, 76,78Cu, 79mZn. Enfin, nous avons confirmé les valeurs obtenues par des études récentes pour le 77Cu et le 79Zn. Dès lors, les valeurs expérimentales des gaps nucléaires Z=28 et N=50 ont été comparées aux résultats prédits par DZ10 et HFB-24. Ce dernier modèle reproduit mieux l’évolution des gaps en question. De fait, HFB-24 a été utilisé dans notre nouveau traitement statistique, que nous avons implémenté dans une simulation hydrodynamique existante de CCSN. Au final, nous avons observé un impact modéré du modèle de masse sur la composition du coeur en effondrement. Par ailleurs, nous avons montré que ces différences de composition ont peu d’effet sur la dynamique d’effondrement, celle-ci semble plus affectée par le taux de capture électronique. Les études futures devraient se focaliser plutôt sur ce paramètre. / The thesis sets itself in the framework of the study of core-collapse supernovae (CCSN). First, the modeling of the composition of the core of a massive star during its collapse has been investigated. To this aim, we have built a new treatment of the nuclear statistical equilibrium starting from a single-nucleus approximation equation of state (Lattimer and Swesty, LS). This allows a more realistic description of the nuclear distribution inside the core and, more specifically, to quantify the role of the nuclear masses. The distributions obtained with the original mass functional (LS) and those obtained with HFB-24 and DZ10 mass models have been compared for several thermodynamic conditions of a typical CCSN trajectory. The differences in the composition could lead up to ∼25% deviations in the electron-capture rate, thus showing the need to identify a proper mass model to use in CCSN simulations. Therefore, we performed high precision mass measurements in the nuclear mass region of interest, via a double Penning trap at the IGISOL facility (Jyväskylä, Finland). Five new mass excess were determined for the following nuclei : 69m,70Co, 74,75Ni and 76mCu. The precision has been improved for five others : 67Fe, 69Co, 76,78Cu and 79mZn. Finally, we have confirmed the values obtained by recent studies for 77Cu and 79Zn. The experimental values of the nuclear gaps for Z=28 and N=50 have been compared with the results predicted by DZ10 and HFB-24. The latter model better reproduces the evolution of these gaps. Therefore, HFB-24 was used in our new statistical treatment, that we implemented in an existing CCSN hydrodynamical simulation. We have observed a moderated impact of the mass model on the composition of the collapsing core. Moreover, we found that the differences in composition have small effect on the collapse dynamics, which appears to be more sensitive to the electron-capture model. Further studies should thus focus on this parameter.

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