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UNIVERSITY of OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE Various Topics in Type Ia Supernovae a DISSERTATION SUBMITTED to the GRADUATE FACULTY In

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UNIVERSITY of OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE Various Topics in Type Ia Supernovae a DISSERTATION SUBMITTED to the GRADUATE FACULTY In UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE Various Topics in Type Ia Supernovae A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY By MALIA T. JENKS Norman, Oklahoma 2019 Various Topics in Type Ia Supernovae A DISSERTATION APPROVED FOR THE HOMER L. DODGE DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY BY Dr. Edward Baron, Chair Dr. Steven Cavallo Dr. Chung Kao Dr. Xinyu Dai Dr. John Wisniewski c Copyright by MALIA T. JENKS 2019 All Rights Reserved. Contents List of Tables vi List of Figures ix Abstract x 1 Background 1 1.1 SN Ia Diversity and Standardization . .2 1.2 SNe Ia Progenitors . .5 1.2.1 Observational Constraints . .6 1.3 Models . 10 2 Narrow Band Light Curve Plateaus 12 2.1 Introduction . 12 2.2 Nearby Supernova factory spectral time series . 15 2.2.1 The Nearby Supernova factory . 15 2.2.2 Data selection: 197 SNe Ia time series . 16 2.3 Plateaus: Stable flux regions in notoriously evolving objects . 18 2.3.1 First findings from visual inspection . 18 2.3.2 Plateau definition and detection . 19 2.3.3 P7: the plateau in the 6800 { 7000 A˚ wavelength region . 21 2.3.4 P6 : the long duration plateau in the 6125-6200 A˚ narrow light curve . 21 2.4 P6 and P7 demographics . 23 2.4.1 P6 and P7 and historical spectral indicators at maximum light . 24 2.4.2 P6 and P7 versus x1 and c .................... 25 2.4.3 P6 light curve and spectra demographics . 29 2.4.4 P7 light curve and spectra demographics . 30 2.5 Discussion . 32 2.5.1 PHOENIX Experiment . 32 2.5.2 P7 narrow band: a probe of total dust extinction? . 37 2.5.3 Connections to Other Work . 39 2.5.4 Summary . 39 2.6 Acknowledgements . 40 3 Post Merger Viscous Evolution of Chandrasekhar Mass Binaries of Differing Mass Ratios in FLASH 52 3.1 Introduction . 52 3.2 SPH models . 56 3.2.1 Converting SPH to grid . 57 3.3 Modeling Viscous evolution . 58 3.3.1 FLASH code setup . 58 3.3.2 Model outputs . 61 iv 3.4 Discussion . 62 3.5 Future Work . 63 3.6 Acknowledgments . 64 4 Summary 66 Bibliography 68 Appendices 82 A Plateau Detection Algorithm and cuts 82 B 3D SPH Particles to 2.5D Grid 87 B.1 Main Code . 88 B.2 Constants File . 92 B.3 Read in Particles . 94 B.4 Uniform Grid . 98 B.5 Kernel . 102 B.6 Calculating Grid Values . 107 C FLASH Parameters 118 C.1 Config . 120 C.2 flash.par . 121 C.3 Simulation data.F90 . 133 C.4 Simulation init.F90 . 137 C.5 Simulation initBlock.F90 . 148 v List of Tables 3.1 SPH models uses as the starting point for FLASH simulations . 56 vi List of Figures 2.1 The time series of the spectral evolution of SN PTF10icb, repre- sentative of the phenomena seen in our movies. 17 2.2 Histograms of the plateau centers and lengths for the tilted and non-tilted 6800-7000 A˚ (P7) light curves. 22 2.3 Histograms of the plateau centers and lengths for the tilted and non-tilted 6125-6200 A˚ light curves . 23 2.4 Panel (a): The break out of SNe Ia between the groups that display a P6 plateau, that display a P6 tilted plateau, and the group that display no plateau. Panel (b): Same as panel (a) for the P7 plateau. Panel (c): In red the group of SNe Ia displaying both P6 and P7 plateau. The green group represents SNe Ia displaying both P6 and P7 tilted plateau. And the yellow group represents SNe Ia that show no P6 nor P7 plateau. Panel (d): In red the group displaying P6 plateau or tilted plateau and P7 plateau or tilted plateau. The yellow group represents SNe Ia without P6 plateau or tilted plateau and P7 plateau or tilted plateau. Finally, the green group represents the SNe Ia that display one plateau or tilted plateau and not the other. 41 2.5 Panel (a): Branch diagram for CfA sample. Panel (b): Branch diagram for the P6 sample Panel (c): the same diagram for the P7 sample. The box shows the region of the core normals in the P6 and P7 samples. 42 2.6 Histogram of the plateau, tilted plateau and no plateau populations for P6 in panel (a) and P7 in panel (b), dispersed with respect to SALT2 x1 light curve width parameter. The average values and standard deviation of x1 for the three P6 groups are: no plateau, x¯ = −0:8, σ = 0:9; plateau, x¯ = 0:4, σ = 0:7; titled plateau, x¯ = 0:05, σ = 0:9. The average values and standard deviations for the P7 groups are: no plateau, x¯ = 0:4σ = 0:5; plateau, x¯ = −0:08, σ = 1:; titled plateau,x ¯ = −0:1, σ = 1: ............. 43 2.7 Panel (a): Slope versus x1 for P6. Panel (b): Slope versus x1 for P7. 43 2.8 Panel (a): Length versus x1 for P6. Panel (b): Length versus x1 for P7. 44 2.9 Panel (a): Height versus c for P6. Panel (b): Height versus c for P7. Panel (c): Height versus x1 for P6. Panel (d): Height versus x1 for P7. 44 2.10 Panel (a): pEW Si 4000 versus length for P6. Panel (b): pEW Si 4000 versus length for P7. Panel (c): pEW Si 4000 versus height for P6. Panel (d): pEW Si 4000 versus height for P7. 45 vii 2.11 Histogram of P6 (Panel a) and P7 (Panel b) populations dispersed along the SALT2 color parameter distribution. The color average values and dispersions for P6 three groups are: no plateau, x¯ = 0:04, σ = 0:1; plateau, x¯ = −0:01, σ = 0:07; titled plateau, x¯ = −0:08, σ = 0:1. The average values and standard dispersions for P7 are: no plateau, x¯ = 0:05, σ = 0:1; plateau, x¯ = 0:02, σ = 0:1; titled plateau,x ¯ = 0:02, σ = 0:2 .................... 45 2.12 Panel (a): Centers versus x1 for P6. The correlation coefficients (Pearson) are r = 0.3, 0.6, 0.4, for plateau, tilted, and combined, respectively. Panel (b): Centers versus x1 for P7. The correlation coefficients (Pearson) are r = 0.8, 0.6, 0.6, for plateau, tilted, and combined, respectively. 46 2.13 SNF Median Lightcurves for P6 plateau, tilted plateau and no plateau groups. 46 2.14 Median spectra for the three P6 no plateau, tilted plateau and plateau categories. 47 2.15 Broad band median lightcurves for three P7 plateau, tilted plateau and no-plateau categories. 48 2.16 Median spectra for three P7 plateau, tilted plateau and no-plateau categories. 49 2.17 The narrow lightcurve (P6) and iron ion ratios [Fe+=(Fe+ + Fe++ + e−) and similarly for Fe++] of Model W7 with all velocities decreased by a factor of 0.90. This model shows a clear plateau. 50 2.18 The narrow lightcurve (P6) and iron ion ratios (same is in Fig- ure 2.17) of Model W7 with all velocities increased by a factor of 1.30. This model shows scant evidence for a plateau. 50 2.19 Panel (a): The evolution of the spectra of Model W7 in the wave- lengths around the narrow bin. Panel (b) The evolution of the spectra of Model W7 with all velocities increased by a factor of 1.5 in the wavelengths around the narrow bin. 51 3.1 Distribution of Particles at the end of the SPH run. The particles are moved from 3D to 2D by setting the φ coordinate to 0. The color of each particle shows if it originally belonged to the primary (red) or secondary (blue). 57 3.2 Dipole magnetic field with constant B in the center used to initialize models . 59 3.3 The initial density and temperature structure from the FLASH simulations. The top row shows the density for each model, the bottom shows the temperature. 60 3.4 These plots show the change in the total mass of each simulation in Solar Masses over the simulation time in seconds. 61 3.5 Snapshots of two of the models 30 seconds into the FLASH model run. The top row shows the density structure of each model, and the bottom shows the temperature structure. 65 viii A.1 The narrow band light curve of PFT09dnl, an example SN with a clear plateau. Green points: data not considered in the fit, Black points: included in initial fit, blue triangles (final fit), black solid lines: initial plateau region edges, red solid lines: final plateau region edges, blue solid lines: intermediate plateau region edges, black dashed line: initial plateau center, red dash-dot line: final plateau center, blue dotted line: intermediate plateau centers. 85 A.2 The narrow band light curve of PTF11bnx, an example SN without a clear plateau. The point and line codes are the same as in Figure A.1. 86 ix Abstract This work takes two approaches to increasing our understanding of type Ia supernovae. The first part uses observations to study their spectral evolution and diversity. The second part uses modeling to investigate a potential progenitor. We cannot yet explain all of the observed diversity of these objects that are and will continue to be important tools for understanding the universe. Our understanding of SN Ia is limited by not understanding the progenitor system or systems that produce the explosions and by an incomplete understanding of the physics of the explosion itself.
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