About

I am an astrophysics PhD student at the University of Melbourne and work as a tutor for the School of Physics. I completed a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Science with honours in nuclear physics at the Australian National University in 2019.

My research focuses on the high-energy emission from dying massive stars as well as the links between supernova remnants and their progenitor stars, with the goal of better understanding the endpoint of stellar evolution. To do this, I study the symmetries, abundances, and energetics of supernova remnants, and relate them back to the progenitor star’s properties, such as mass and supernova type. I focus in particular on the X-ray emission of the supernova remnants in the Magellanic Clouds.

Publications

Panjkov, S. et al., (2023). Probing the Soft X-ray Properties and Multi-wavelength Variability of SN2023ixf. Submitted to the Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia. https://arxiv.org/abs/2308.13101

Wallner, A. et al., including Panjkov, S (2020). 60Fe deposition during the late Pleistocene and the Holocene echoes past supernova activity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(36). doi:10.1073/pnas.1916769117

Outreach

I am an author for Astrobites, a web publication that aims to distill arXiv publications into bite-sized pieces that are accessible to undergraduates and the general public. My recent works are listed below.

A High-Energy Post-Mortem of the Galactic Supernova Remnant G309.8+00.0. By Sonja Panjkov for Astrobites (March 2024).

Neutrinos and Natal Kicks in the Inert Black Hole Binary VFTS 243. By Sonja Panjkov for Astrobites (June 2024).

One Last Hurrah: End-of-life Mass Loss in the Large Magellanic Cloud Red Supergiants. By Sonja Panjkov for Astrobites (May 2024).

A Stellar Whodunit: Search for a Near-Earth Supernova. By Sonja Panjkov for Astrobites (May 2024).

An Elegy to Supernova Remnant 3C 397: Simulating Stellar Death. By Sonja Panjkov for Astrobites (April 2024).

Tragic Tidal Disruption Events: How Black Holes Shred Stars. By Sonja Panjkov for Astrobites (March 2024).

Supernova Remnant W49B and the Case of the Missing Titanium. By Sonja Panjkov for Astrobites (March 2024).

The Shocking Nature of Supernova Remnant RCW 86. By Sonja Panjkov for Astrobites (October 2023).

Champagne Supernova (Remnants). Guest on Spaghettification Podcast (August 2023).

The Fast and the Radio Luminous: FRB20121102A. By Sonja Panjkov for Astrobites (August 2023).

Luminous, Fast and Blue: Do the Finch and the Cow Share a Common Ancestor? By Sonja Panjkov for Astrobites (July 2023).

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, is Stellar Lithium the Most Puzzling Lithium Problem of them All? By Sonja Panjkov for Astrobites (June 2023).

Are Super-Mercuries and Magnesium Mortal Enemies? By Sonja Panjkov for Astrobites (June 2023).

Supernova Remnants: The Fingerprints of Stellar Death. iTelescope Webinar (May 2023).

Is One Really the Loneliest Number? Void Galaxies Compared to Their More Popular Counterparts in the Field. By Sonja Panjkov for Astrobites (April 2023).

The Peculiar Nature of Black Hole Birth Kicks. By Sonja Panjkov for Astrobites (January 2023).

The Continued Hunt for the Neutron Star at the Heart of SN 1987A. By Sonja Panjkov for Astrobites (September 2022).

Gamma-Ray Bursts and Where to Find Them. By Sonja Panjkov for Astro3D Monthly Media (June 2022).

Curriculum Vitae

Please find a copy of my curriculum vitae at the link below.