Astronomy Colloquium

The theory of compact-object birth and supernovae is now entering a new
and productive phase of rapid insight into the mechanism and systematics
of explosion. The panoramic perspective provided by the recent access to
tens of state-of-the-art 3D core-collapse simulations taken to late times
has revealed potential correlations between supernova observables and
physical trends with progenitors. A productive dialogue is slowly emerging
between theorists and observers that promises to transform the study of
core-collapse supernova explosions and to inaugurate an new era of
physical characterization missing from the past. Models now explode
without artiface and theory is on the cusp of being able to make
predictions that seemed out of reach only a few years ago. We have
discovered correlations between explosion energy, neutron star
gravitational birth masses, the yields of the chemical elements, debris
morphologies, pulsar kicks, and neutrino and gravitational-wave emissions.
However, while I contend the core-collapse supernova problem is in broad
outline and qualitatively now solved, there is much yet to do in supernova
theory before it can robustly and quantitatively explain the variety of
supernova observations. I will close with suggested paths forward to
achieve this ultimate goal.