Our research is focused on cosmic explosions: the catastrophic deaths of stars. Huge amounts of energy are released within hours in events so bright they are seen from the edge of the Universe. The resulting extreme physical conditions involve huge densities, pressures and temperatures, strong magnetic fields, nuclear and high energy particle reactions, and strong relativistic effects (special and general). These topics are at the forefront of research in high energy particle astrophysics and gravity theories, with implications from the source of life to cosmology.

Contact | Website	Avishay Gal-Yam, Group Head . Working on cosmic explosions, their origins, physics, and how they shape our Universe, from elements to form planets, to the geometry and final fate of the cosmos.
Contact | Website	Eran Ofek, Group Head . Working on the origin and physics of cosmic explosions, the cometary resevoirs of the solar system and gravitational lensing.
Contact | Website	Ilan Sagiv, Staff Scientist . Project scientist for an Israeli lead space mission designed to detect transient events in the UV and distribute alerts in near real time.
Contact	Ofer Yaron, Post-Doc . Investigating type I supernovae (with emphasis on the borderline between type Ia and core collapse), pair-instability SNe and the possible progenitors of type Ia SNe.
Contact | Website	Yifat Dzigan, Post-Doc . Conducting and analyzing the first all-sky high resolution H-alpha survey, with emphasis on measuring the SFR in the local universe.
Contact | Website	Benny Trakhtenbrot, Post-Doc . Investigating the properties and cosmic evolution of super-massive black holes and how these are related to the galaxies that host them.
Contact	Annalisa De Cia, Post-Doc . Investigating the properties of the interstellar medium in distant star-forming galaxies hosting gamma-ray bursts and supernovae.
Contact	Paul Marijn Vreeswijk, Post-Doc . Investigating the interstellar medium surrounding gamma-ray bursts through (high-resolution) spectroscopy of their afterglows.
Contact	Shai Kaspi, Special Consultant . Working at the Wise Observatory, assisting with PTF followup. Main research field is AGNs as well as transiting phenomenon such as SNe, GRBs, and gravitational microlensing events.
Contact | Website	Iair Arcavi, Phd Student . Investigating the core collapse supernova population, in an attempt to better classify their diversity, using the CCCP and PTF surveys.
Contact	Sagi Ben-Ami, Phd Student . Studying GALEX spectroscopy of core collapse SNe.
Contact	David Tal, Msc Student . Studying the light curve distribution of Type II core collapse events from PTF.
Contact	Barak Zackay, Msc student . Working on statistical and algorithmic methods in astronomical observation and data analysis.
Contact | Website	Hagai Perets, Former Post-Doc . Worked on SN 2005E as a part of a new class of faint and fast Ca-rich SNe.
Contact | Website	Carles Badenes, Former Post-Doc . Worked on several aspects of Type Ia supernovae, including their progenitors, explosion mechanisms, and the supernova remnants that they leave behind.
Contact	Assaf Sternberg, Former Post-Doc . Worked on type Ia supernovae, mainly the analysis of high resolution spectra in search for evidence of circumstellar material that might shed some light on the progenitor system of this type of supernova.
Contact | Website	David Polishook, Former Post-Doc . Used time variable observations to derive lightcurves and rotation periods of asteroids in order to study their physical nature, evolution and the mechanisms acting on them.
Contact	Dong Xu, Former Post-Doc . Working on core collapse supernovae (especially of type IIn) and gamma ray bursts, including their physical origins, radiation mechanisms, classifications and cosmological applications.
	Michael Kiewe, Former Msc Student . Worked on type IIn supernovae from the CCCP survey, using photometry and spectroscopy to study their progenitors' mass loss rates.
	Yoav Green, Former Msc Student . Studied the proposed link between Wolf-Rayet stars and type Ib/c supernovae, in order to constrain progenitor scenarios.
	Sanja Lazarevic, Visitor . Department of Astronomy Faculty of Mathematics University of Belgrade
	Adam B. Becker, Visitor . Department of Astronomy University of California Berkeley, CA
	Raphael Scheps, Visitor . King's College University of Cambridge

.
Highlights

• A New Type of Stellar Explosion

Press:
BBC News
Science Daily
Examiner
Ynet (in Hebrew)


• Discovery of the First Example of a Pair-Instability Supernova

Press:
Sky & Telescope
New Scientist
National Geographic
Science News
Science Daily


• The First PTF Great Discovery: Bright Blue Deaths of Stars


• A Massive Hypergiant Star as the Progenitor of the Supernova SN 2005gl

Press:
Weizmann Institute
Scientific American
MSNBC
HubbleSite