Monday

Polarimetry provides a unique window into the physics of explosive transients by probing the 3D geometries of these events. Here I will report recent results from the Explosion Polarization Collaboration, including the important contribution of VLT FORS to establishing the range of polarization properties of these events. I will highlight the various constraints polarimetry and the geometry have for the explosion mechanisms of Type Ia and Core-collapse SNe, as well as the additional constraints polarimetry can provide on other properties of the SNe (such as the nature of the reddening towards Type Ia SNe). Polarimetry of the rare forms of SNe, in particular the Type IIn/SN impostors, will be discussed with a view to establishing the true nature of these events and the origin of their luminosities.