Abstract :
Core-collapse supernovae (SNe) are among the most important cosmic engines in the Universe, shaping their surrounding environments and leaving behind compact remnants. Many of their massive stellar progenitors are born in binary systems, where interactions with close companions significantly affect their evolution toward explosion, the observable properties of the resulting SNe, their explodability, and the timing of the event. In fact, binary evolution is now thought to dominate one of the main SN classes, that of hydrogen-poor, stripped-envelope SNe. In my talk, I will discuss the impact of binary evolution on the statistical properties of these events and focus on the potential of direct companion detections of nearby SNe to study them. At the same time, binarity has recently been recognized as a key factor in understanding even the most common class, that of hydrogen-rich, Type II SNe. However, although binary progenitors of Type II SNe are expected to be abundant, observationally identifying them remains challenging, and I will outline a methodology that we have developed and applied to begin uncovering such systems. Finally, I will briefly address the broader implications of binary SN progenitors for the timing and magnitude of feedback to their host galaxies.
