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PTF 11kx: A Type Ia Supernova with a Symbiotic Nova Progenitor B. Dilday et al. Science 337, 942 (2012); DOI: 10.1126/science.1219164 This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. If you wish to distribute this article to others, you can order high-quality copies for your colleagues, clients, or customers by clicking here. Permission to republish or repurpose articles or portions of articles can be obtained by following the guidelines here. The following resources related to this article are available online at www.sciencemag.org (this information is current as of March 4, 2013 ): Updated information and services, including high-resolution figures, can be found in the online on March 4, 2013 version of this article at: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/337/6097/942.full.html Supporting Online Material can be found at: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/suppl/2012/08/22/337.6097.942.DC1.html http://www.sciencemag.org/content/suppl/2012/08/22/337.6097.942.DC2.html A list of selected additional articles on the Science Web sites related to this article can be found at: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/337/6097/942.full.html#related www.sciencemag.org This article cites 54 articles, 2 of which can be accessed free: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/337/6097/942.full.html#ref-list-1 This article has been cited by 4 articles hosted by HighWire Press; see: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/337/6097/942.full.html#related-urls This article appears in the following subject collections: Astronomy Downloaded from http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/collection/astronomy Science (print ISSN 0036-8075; online ISSN 1095-9203) is published weekly, except the last week in December, by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1200 New York Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20005. Copyright 2012 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science; all rights reserved. The title Science is a registered trademark of AAAS. REPORTS two previous SNe Ia (SN 2006X and SN 2007le) and has been explained as the photoionization of circumstellar material (CSM) by the SN light, PTF 11kx: A Type Ia Supernova with followed by recombination that is detected through the increased presence of neutral sodium (9, 11). a Symbiotic Nova Progenitor A statistical study using high-resolution spectra of 35 SNe Ia has shown that at least 20% of B. Dilday,1,2* D. A. Howell,1,2 S. B. Cenko,3 J. M. Silverman,3 P. E. Nugent,3,4 M. Sullivan,5 those with spiral host galaxies have CSM revealed S. Ben-Ami,6 L. Bildsten,2,7 M. Bolte,8 M. Endl,9 A. V. Filippenko,3 O. Gnat,10 A. Horesh,12 through narrow Na I D absorption lines (10). E. Hsiao,4,11 M. M. Kasliwal,12,13 D. Kirkman,14 K. Maguire,5 G. W. Marcy,3 K. Moore,2 Y. Pan,5 However, narrow lines of circumstellar Fe II, J. T. Parrent,1,15 P. Podsiadlowski,5 R. M. Quimby,16 A. Sternberg,17 N. Suzuki,4 D. R. Tytler,14 Ti II, and He I have not been seen previously in a D. Xu,6 J. S. Bloom,3 A. Gal-Yam,18 I. M. Hook,5 S. R. Kulkarni,12 N. M. Law,19 E. O. Ofek,18 SN Ia. He I l5876 strengthens over time, which D. Polishook,20 D. Poznanski21 can be explained by photoionization and recom- bination, if sufficient far-ultraviolet (UV) photons There is a consensus that type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) arise from the thermonuclear explosion of white are generated in the early phases of the SN. SNe dwarf stars that accrete matter from a binary companion. However, direct observation of SN Ia progenitors Ia are expected to produce only weak emission in is lacking, and the precise nature of the binary companion remains uncertain. A temporal series of the far-UV, but interaction of the SN ejecta with high-resolution optical spectra of the SN Ia PTF 11kx reveals a complex circumstellar environment that an extended progenitor such as a red giant star provides an unprecedentedly detailed view of the progenitor system. Multiple shells of circumstellar material can produce an excess of x-ray and UV photons are detected, and the SN ejecta are seen to interact with circumstellar material starting 59 days after (12). Lower excitation states of Fe II ll4923, the explosion. These features are best described by a symbiotic nova progenitor, similar to RS Ophiuchi. 5018, and 5169 decrease in strength in time, whereas higher excitation states, such as Fe II upernova PTF 11kx was discovered 16 thus, this combination of absorption features l5316, remain constant. A possible explanation January 2011 (UT) by the Palomar Transient indicated that PTF 11kx may have affected its for this is that the excitation energy of Fe II SFactory (PTF) at a cosmological redshift surroundings, revealing evidence of its circumstellar l5316 (3.153 eV) corresponds to the saturated of z = 0.04660 T 0.00001 (1). This corresponds environment and progenitor system. Supernovae Ia Ca II K line, and thus the population of this level to a luminosity distance of ∼207 Mpc. The ini- (SNe Ia) are known to exhibit photometric (3, 4) is unaffected by the SN light. Because SNe Ia are on March 4, 2013 tial spectrum of PTF 11kx, taken 26 January and spectroscopic (5) diversity that is correlated weak sources in the UV, the distance over which 2011, showed saturated absorption in the Ca II with intrinsic brightness, such that bright (faint) they can ionize gas is limited, and hence the H and K lines, along with weak absorption in SNe Ia have relatively broad (narrow) light curves, observed photoionization indicates that the ma- the Na I D lines (Fig. 1). In interstellar gas, the high (low) photospheric temperature, and weak terial is circumstellar (9, 11). An alternative ex- Na I D lines are usually of strength comparable (strong) Si II l6150 absorption. Aside from the planation, as the projection effect of different to (or greater than) that of the Ca II lines (2); saturated Ca II absorption, the initial spectrum interstellar clouds, was proposed for the time- and a subsequent temporal series of spectra variable Na I D lines in SN 2006X (13); however, 6 7 1 show PTF 11kx to resemble SN 1999aa ( , ), interaction with the CSM in PTF 11kx demon- Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network, 6740 www.sciencemag.org 2 a broad/bright SN Ia (Fig. 1). This suggests that Cortona Drive, Suite 102, Goleta, CA 93117, USA. Department strates conclusively that CSM is present. There of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, Broida Hall, insights into the progenitor of PTF 11kx may be are other narrow sodium features at different rel- Mail Code 9530, Santa Barbara, CA 93106–9530, USA. applicable to SNe Ia generally, rather than to only ative velocities that do not vary with time, which 3Department of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, a subset of peculiar objects. A complete sample must originate at a larger distance and are most – 4 CA 94720 3411, USA. Lawrence Berkeley National Labora- of nearby SNe Ia shows that the subclass similar likely interstellar (Fig. 2). tory, Mail Stop 50B-4206, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA ≥ 8 94720, USA. 5Department of Physics (Astrophysics), University to SN 1999aa comprises 9% of all SNe Ia ( ). The hydrogen Balmer series is clearly detected –1 ofOxford,KebleRoad,OxfordOX13RH,UK.6Department of We obtained high-resolution spectra (R = in absorption at ∼65 km s and is consistent with Particle Physics and Astrophysics, Weizmann Institute of l/Dl ≈ 48,000) of PTF 11kx with the Keck I being at the same velocity as the Fe II, Ti II, Na I, 7 Downloaded from Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel. Kavli Institute for Theoretical High Resolution Echelle Spectrometer (HIRES) and He I lines (Fig. 2). The Ha and Hb lines Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, − USA. 8University of California Observatories, Lick Observatory, instrument at 1, +9, +20, and +44 days, rel- show narrow P-Cygni profiles, which are char- University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA. 9McDonald ative to B-band maximum light in the observer acteristic of an expanding shell of radiating ma- Observatory, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, frame. Low-resolution spectra were obtained on 14 terial. The presence of circumstellar hydrogen 10 USA. Racah Institute of Physics, Hebrew University of Jeru- epochs between −3 and +130 days and show the has long been identified as one of the character- salem, 91904, Israel. 11Carnegie Institution of Washington, Las Campanas Observatory, Colina El Pino, Casilla 601, Chile. composition and evolution of features that are istics expected in the single-degenerate SN Ia pro- 12Cahill Center for Astrophysics, California Institute of Tech- unique to SNe Ia (Fig. 1). The SN system is genitor model (14, 15) but has only been detected nology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA. 13Observatories of the blueshifted from the galaxy cosmological red- in at most two other cases, SN 2002ic (16)andSN Carnegie Institution for Science, 813 Santa Barbara Street, ∼ –1 17 14 shift by 100 km s , as determined from the 2005gj ( ), and only at levels much stronger than Pasadena, CA 91101, USA. Center for Astrophysics and strongest narrow interstellar Na D absorption line Space Sciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA in the early epochs of PTF 11kx. 92093–0424, USA. 15Department of Physics and Astronomy, (9, 10). An assumption that emission lines from a These narrow features of H, He, Fe, Ti, and Na Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA.