DOCSLIB.ORG

The Ultraviolet Properties of Supernovae

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Ultraviolet Properties of Supernovae The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics THE ULTRAVIOLET PROPERTIES OF SUPERNOVAE A Dissertation in Astronomy and Astrophysics by Peter J. Brown c 2009 Peter J. Brown Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 2009 The dissertation of Peter J. Brown was reviewed and approved1 by the following: Peter W. A. Roming Senior Research Associate Dissertation Adviser Chair of Committee David N. Burrows Senior Scientist/Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics Robin Ciardullo Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics Eric Feigelson Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics Lee Samuel Finn Professor of Physics and Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics Ruth Daly Professor of Physics Larry Ramsey Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics Head of the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics 1 Signatures on file in the Graduate School. iii Abstract Ultraviolet (UV) observations of supernovae (SNe) probe an important wave- length region where hot temperatures, extinction, and metallicity have strong effects. In addition, they provide a comparison set against which to compare and better understand rest frame UV observations of high redshift SNe observed in the optical. UV observa- tions, however, are rare due to the need for telescopes above the atmosphere and the difficulty in observing transient objects with space based observatories. Limited obser- vations with space based observatories, primarily the International Ultraviolet Explorer and the Hubble Space Telescope, are reviewed, after which the Ultra-Violet/Optical Tele- scope (UVOT) on the Swift spacecraft is introduced. With Swift we have observed more SNe than all previous UV missions combined. Case studies of two individual SNe are first presented: SNe 2005am and 2005cs. SN 2005am is the first young SN observed with Swift, and the near-UV (uvw1: central wavelength ∼ 2600 A)˚ light curve is consistent with the previous “template” derived from IUE and HST observations of SNe 1990N and 1992A. SN 2005cs is the first plateau-type II (IIP) with a well observed UV light curve. UVOT observations show a dramatic drop in the UV brightness and shift in the spectral energy distribution from blue to red caused by the dropping temperature and result- ing line blanketing in the UV. These case studies demonstrate the information available from the UV data for individual SNe. A photometry method for proper accounting of coincidence loss, aperture corrections, and subtraction of the underlying galaxy is de- tailed. This method is then applied to a large sample of SNe observed with UVOT. We present 25 light curves and compare SNe by type and across types. The SNe Ia, with a few exceptions, are shown to have very similar light curves in the near UV, whereas, the three SNe Ib/c we have observed are very different. The SNe IIP all have rapidly fading UV light curves, though with different decay rates. The usefulness of UV-optical colors in differentiating the different SN types, particularly young SNe II which are blue and the redder SNe I, is then demonstrated. In a study of the absolute magnitudes of SNe Ia, we find that “normal” SNe Ia are standard candles in the near UV (u and uvw1 bands: central wavelengths 3500 and 2600 A),˚ but the scatter increases dramatically at shorter wavelengths (uvm2 filter: central wavelength 2200 A).˚ The utility of this UV database of light curves for better understanding local SN events and for the discovery, classification, and understanding of high redshift SNe is discussed. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables ...................................... vi List of Figures ..................................... vii Preface ......................................... x Chapter 1. Introduction ............................... 1 1.1 Supernovae ................................ 1 1.1.1 Thermonuclear Type Ia Supernovae . 3 1.1.2 Stripped Envelope Core Collapse Supernovae Ib/c . 7 1.1.3 Hydrogen Rich Type II Supernovae . 10 1.1.4 Observations at Different Wavelengths . 12 1.2 UVObservations ............................. 13 1.3 Swift UVOT................................ 20 Chapter 2. The Type Ia Supernova 2005am .................... 26 2.1 Introduction................................ 26 2.2 ObservationsandReductions . 27 2.2.1 Photometry............................ 27 2.2.2 GrismSpectroscopy ....................... 29 2.3 Results................................... 29 2.3.1 OpticalLightCurves. 29 2.3.2 UltravioletLightCurves . 32 2.3.3 Spectra .............................. 33 2.3.4 XRTData............................. 33 2.3.5 XMM-Newton EPICData.................... 33 2.3.6 X-rayResults........................... 35 2.4 Summary ................................. 35 Chapter 3. The Type II Supernova 2005cs ..................... 37 3.1 Introduction................................ 37 3.2 ObservationsandReductions . 38 3.2.1 Swift Observations ........................ 38 3.2.2 UVOTPhotometry........................ 39 3.2.3 UVOTGrismData ....................... 40 3.3 Discussion................................. 40 3.3.1 UltravioletLightCurves . 40 3.3.2 UVSpectra ............................ 40 3.3.3 Comparison of the UV Light Curves of SNe II . 44 3.3.4 Comparison with non-LTE model atmospheres . 44 3.4 Summary ................................. 50 v Chapter 4. UVOT Photometry of Supernovae ................... 53 4.1 General Image Processing and Photometry . 53 4.2 GalaxySubtractionMethod . 54 4.3 Examples ................................. 57 4.4 OtherPhotometryIssues. 61 4.5 Summary ................................. 63 Chapter 5. Ultraviolet Light Curves of Supernovae ................ 64 5.1 SNeIaLightCurves ........................... 67 5.2 SNeIb/cLightCurves .......................... 67 5.3 SNeIIPLightCurves .......................... 70 5.4 SN Phototyping with UV-Optical Colors . 70 Chapter 6. Type Ia Supernovae as Standard Candles in the UV ......... 75 6.1 SNeIaasStandardCandles . 75 6.2 Sample................................... 76 6.3 Analysis.................................. 77 6.3.1 Peak Apparent Magnitudes . 79 6.3.2 K corrections........................... 79 6.3.3 Correctingforextinction. 81 6.3.4 Determiningthedistances . 84 6.4 Results................................... 88 6.4.1 PeakPseudo-colors........................ 88 6.4.2 Absolute Magnitudes . 91 6.4.3 Search for Photometric UV Luminosity Indicators . 98 6.5 Discussion................................. 99 Chapter 7. Conclusions and Future Work ..................... 101 7.1 ConclusionsFromThisWork . 101 7.2 FutureWorkatLowRedshift . 102 7.3 HighRedshiftApplication . 105 Appendix A. Acronyms ................................ 109 Appendix B. Image Archive pipeline ........................ 110 Appendix C. Galaxy Subtraction Recipe ...................... 112 Appendix D. Data File ................................ 116 Appendix E. Light Curve Plots ........................... 118 Appendix F. Color Evolution Plots ......................... 132 Bibliography ...................................... 137 vi List of Tables 1.1 Non Swift UVOTUVSNObservations. 13 1.2 Swift UVOTFilterCharacteristics . 24 1.3 Common UVOT Modes for SN Observations . 25 2.1 Optical and Ultraviolet Light Curves of SN2005am . ...... 30 2.2 UVOT Grism Observations of SN 2005am . 31 3.1 Swift UVOTFilterCharacteristics . 39 3.2 Swift UVOT Photometry of SN 2005cs . 41 3.3 Swift UVOT Grism Observations of SN 2005cs . 41 5.1 DecayRatesofEarlyUVLightCurves . 68 6.1 UVOTFilterCharacteristics . 77 6.2 Apparent Magnitudes at Maximum Light . 80 6.3 K corrections for SNe Ia near Maximum Light . 83 6.4 E(B − V )ColorExcessMeasurements . 85 6.5 HostGalaxiesandDistances . 89 6.6 UV-OpticalPeakPseudocolors . 96 6.7 AbsolutePeakMagnitudes. 97 6.8 Mean Absolute Magnitudes and Scatter . 98 7.1 Swift UVOTUVObservations . 102 vii List of Figures 1.1 HETspectraofSNeofdifferenttypes. 2 1.2 HETspectraofSNeIa. ........................... 4 1.3 b and b-v curves of SN 2007af illustrating ∆m15(B)and the Lira relation. 5 1.4 HETspectraofSNeIb/c. .......................... 8 1.5 HETspectraofSNeII. ........................... 11 1.6 IUE spectrophotometry for 21 SNe. 17 1.7 IUE spectrophotometry for SN 1987A. 18 1.8 Bright star contamination regions for UVOT. ..... 22 1.9 UVOT filters with the spectra of SNe 2005am and 2005cs. ..... 24 2.1 Effective area curves of UVOT’s six broadband filters on a spectrum of SN2005am. .................................. 28 2.2 Ultraviolet and optical light curves of SN2005am obtained by UVOT. 31 2.3 UVOT Grism Spectra of SN2005am. 34 3.1 Swift images of SN 2005cs and its host galaxy M51. 38 3.2 Light curves of SN 2005cs obtained by UVOT in the three UV filters and theVband. ................................. 42 3.3 Grism spectra of SN 2005cs obtained by UVOT). 43 3.4 Comparison of SNe II observed by IUE and Swift-UVOT. 45 3.5 Comparison between the photometric UVOT, spectroscopic optical ob- servations (CfA) and CMFGEN models for SN 2005cs on 6 June 2006. 48 3.6 Comparison between the photometric UVOT, spectroscopic optical ob- servations and CMFGEN models for SN 2005cs on 5 July 2005. 49 3.7 Radial variation of the mean intensity over the UV and optical ranges for the June 30thCMFGEN model. 51 3.8 Radial variation of the mean intensity over the UV and optical rangesfor theJuly5thCMFGENmodel. 52 4.1 UVOT images of SN2006X (left) and pre-explosion images of M100 (right). 55 4.2 Pre and post galaxy subtracted count rates for the source region centered onSN2006Xinb. .............................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Uncovering the Putative B-Star Binary Companion of the Sn 1993J Progenitor
    The Astrophysical Journal, 790:17 (13pp), 2014 July 20 doi:10.1088/0004-637X/790/1/17 C 2014. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A. UNCOVERING THE PUTATIVE B-STAR BINARY COMPANION OF THE SN 1993J PROGENITOR Ori D. Fox1, K. Azalee Bostroem2, Schuyler D. Van Dyk3, Alexei V. Filippenko1, Claes Fransson4, Thomas Matheson5, S. Bradley Cenko1,6, Poonam Chandra7, Vikram Dwarkadas8, Weidong Li1,10, Alex H. Parker1, and Nathan Smith9 1 Department of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3411, USA; [email protected]. 2 Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA 3 Caltech, Mailcode 314-6, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA 4 Department of Astronomy, Oskar Klein Centre, Stockholm University, AlbaNova, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden 5 National Optical Astronomy Observatory, 950 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719-4933, USA 6 Astrophysics Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Mail Code 661, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA 7 National Centre for Radio Astrophysics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Pune University Campus, Ganeshkhind, Pune-411007, India 8 Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, 5640 S Ellis Ave, Chicago, IL 60637 9 Steward Observatory, 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA Received 2014 February 9; accepted 2014 May 23; published 2014 June 27 ABSTRACT The Type IIb supernova (SN) 1993J is one of only a few stripped-envelope SNe with a progenitor star identified in pre-explosion images. SN IIb models typically invoke H envelope stripping by mass transfer in a binary system. For the case of SN 1993J, the models suggest that the companion grew to 22 M and became a source of ultraviolet (UV) excess.
    [Show full text]
  • Copyright by Robert Michael Quimby 2006 the Dissertation Committee for Robert Michael Quimby Certifies That This Is the Approved Version of the Following Dissertation
    Copyright by Robert Michael Quimby 2006 The Dissertation Committee for Robert Michael Quimby certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: The Texas Supernova Search Committee: J. Craig Wheeler, Supervisor Peter H¨oflich Carl Akerlof Gary Hill Pawan Kumar Edward L. Robinson The Texas Supernova Search by Robert Michael Quimby, A.B., M.A. DISSERTATION Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN December 2006 Acknowledgments I would like to thank J. Craig Wheeler, Pawan Kumar, Gary Hill, Peter H¨oflich, Rob Robinson and Christopher Gerardy for their support and advice that led to the realization of this project and greatly improved its quality. Carl Akerlof, Don Smith, and Eli Rykoff labored to install and maintain the ROTSE-IIIb telescope with help from David Doss, making this project possi- ble. Finally, I thank Greg Aldering, Saul Perlmutter, Robert Knop, Michael Wood-Vasey, and the Supernova Cosmology Project for lending me their image subtraction code and assisting me with its installation. iv The Texas Supernova Search Publication No. Robert Michael Quimby, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2006 Supervisor: J. Craig Wheeler Supernovae (SNe) are popular tools to explore the cosmological expan- sion of the Universe owing to their bright peak magnitudes and reasonably high rates; however, even the relatively homogeneous Type Ia supernovae are not intrinsically perfect standard candles. Their absolute peak brightness must be established by corrections that have been largely empirical.
    [Show full text]
  • FY08 Technical Papers by GSMTPO Staff
    AURA/NOAO ANNUAL REPORT FY 2008 Submitted to the National Science Foundation July 23, 2008 Revised as Complete and Submitted December 23, 2008 NGC 660, ~13 Mpc from the Earth, is a peculiar, polar ring galaxy that resulted from two galaxies colliding. It consists of a nearly edge-on disk and a strongly warped outer disk. Image Credit: T.A. Rector/University of Alaska, Anchorage NATIONAL OPTICAL ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORY NOAO ANNUAL REPORT FY 2008 Submitted to the National Science Foundation December 23, 2008 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................. 1 1 SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITIES AND FINDINGS ..................................................................................... 2 1.1 Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory...................................................................................... 2 The Once and Future Supernova η Carinae...................................................................................................... 2 A Stellar Merger and a Missing White Dwarf.................................................................................................. 3 Imaging the COSMOS...................................................................................................................................... 3 The Hubble Constant from a Gravitational Lens.............................................................................................. 4 A New Dwarf Nova in the Period Gap............................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • A Holistic View of the GRB-SN Connection Alicia M Soderberg
    A Holistic View of the GRB-SN Connection Alicia M Soderberg Harvard University (Credit: M. Bietenholz) Monday, April 19, 2010 12 Years since GRB 980425 d=38 Mpc Alicia M. Soderberg Apr 20, 2010 Kyoto Talk Monday, April 19, 2010 12 Years since GRB 980425 d=38 Mpc Happy Birthday Alicia M. Soderberg Apr 20, 2010 Kyoto Talk Monday, April 19, 2010 GRB-SN Connection L ~ 1053 erg/s L ~ 1042 erg/s Emission Process =? Ni-56 decay Δt ~ seconds Δt ~ 1 month Hard X-ray Optical (Credit: P. Challis) Monday, April 19, 2010 Alicia M. Soderberg Apr 20, 2010 Kyoto Talk Monday, April 19, 2010 Alicia M. Soderberg Apr 20, 2010 Kyoto Talk Monday, April 19, 2010 SN 1998bw at z=0.009 Alicia M. Soderberg Apr 20, 2010 Kyoto Talk Monday, April 19, 2010 SN 1998bw at z=0.009 SN 2003dh at z=0.169 Alicia M. Soderberg Apr 20, 2010 Kyoto Talk Monday, April 19, 2010 SN 1998bw at z=0.009 SN 2003lw at z=0.10 SN 2003dh at z=0.169 Alicia M. Soderberg Apr 20, 2010 Kyoto Talk Monday, April 19, 2010 SN 1998bw at z=0.009 SN 2003lw at z=0.10 SN 2003dh at z=0.169 SN 2006aj at z=0.03 Alicia M. Soderberg Apr 20, 2010 Kyoto Talk Monday, April 19, 2010 SN 1998bw at z=0.009 SN 2003lw at z=0.10 SN 2003dh at z=0.169 Most GRBs accompanied by Broad-lined SNe Ic SN 2006aj at z=0.03 Alicia M.
    [Show full text]
  • Sky April 2011
    EDITORIAL ................. 2 ONE TO ONE WITH TONY MARSH 3 watcher CAPTION COMPETITION 7 April 2011 Sky OUTREACH EVENT AT CHANDLER SCHOOL .... 8 MOON AND SATURN WATCH 9 MY TELESCOPE BUILDING PROJECT 10 CONSTELLATION OF THE MONTH - VIRGO 15 OUTREACH AT BENTLEY COPSE 21 THE NIGHT SKY IN APRIL 22 Open-Air Planisphere taken by Adrian Lilly Page 1 © copyright 2011 guildford astronomical society www.guildfordas.org From the Editor Welcome to this, the April issue of Skywatcher. With the clocks going forward a hour the night sky has undergone a radical shift, the winter constellations are rapidly disappearing into the evening twilight, and the galaxy-filled reaches of Virgo are high up in the south and well-placed for observation. But I digress, whatever telescope you own or have stashed away at the back of the garage, the thought of making your own has probably crossed your mind at some point. I‟m delighted to have an article from Jonathan Shinn describing how he built a 6-inch Dobsonian – including grinding the mirror! Our lead-off article this issue is the interview from Brian Gordon-States with Tony Marsh. Tony has been a Committee member for many years, and much like previous interviews the story behind how he became fascinated with Astronomy is a compelling one. If there is a theme to this issue it‟s probably one of Outreach as I have two reports to share with you all. These events give youngsters the chance to look through a telescope at the wonders of the universe, and our closer celestial neighbours with someone on-hand to explain what they are looking at.
    [Show full text]
  • Ultraviolet Spectroscopy of Type Iib Supernovae: Diversity and the Impact of Circumstellar Material
    LJMU Research Online Ben-Ami, S, Hachinger, S, Gal-Yam, A, Mazzali, PA, Filippenko, AV, Horesh, A, Matheson, T, Modjaz, M, Sauer, DN, Silverman, JM, Smith, N and Yaron, O ULTRAVIOLET SPECTROSCOPY OF TYPE IIB SUPERNOVAE: DIVERSITY AND THE IMPACT OF CIRCUMSTELLAR MATERIAL http://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/2871/ Article Citation (please note it is advisable to refer to the publisher’s version if you intend to cite from this work) Ben-Ami, S, Hachinger, S, Gal-Yam, A, Mazzali, PA, Filippenko, AV, Horesh, A, Matheson, T, Modjaz, M, Sauer, DN, Silverman, JM, Smith, N and Yaron, O (2015) ULTRAVIOLET SPECTROSCOPY OF TYPE IIB SUPERNOVAE: DIVERSITY AND THE IMPACT OF CIRCUMSTELLAR MATERIAL. LJMU has developed LJMU Research Online for users to access the research output of the University more effectively. Copyright © and Moral Rights for the papers on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. Users may download and/or print one copy of any article(s) in LJMU Research Online to facilitate their private study or for non-commercial research. You may not engage in further distribution of the material or use it for any profit-making activities or any commercial gain. The version presented here may differ from the published version or from the version of the record. Please see the repository URL above for details on accessing the published version and note that access may require a subscription. For more information please contact [email protected] http://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/ Ultraviolet Spectroscopy of Type IIb Supernovae: Diversity and the Impact of Circumstellar Material Sagi Ben-Ami1,2,3, Stephan Hachinger4,5, Avishay Gal-Yam2,6, Paolo A.
    [Show full text]
  • SN 2005Cs in M51 – II
    Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 394, 2266–2282 (2009) doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.14505.x SN 2005cs in M51 – II. Complete evolution in the optical and the near-infrared A. Pastorello,1 S. Valenti,1 L. Zampieri,2 H. Navasardyan,2 S. Taubenberger,3 S. J. Smartt,1 A. A. Arkharov,4 O. Barnbantner,¨ 5 H. Barwig,5 S. Benetti,2 P. Birtwhistle,6 M. T. Botticella,1 E. Cappellaro,2 M. Del Principe,7 F. Di Mille,8 G. Di Rico,7 M. Dolci,7 N. Elias-Rosa,9 N. V. Efimova,4,10 M. Fiedler,11 A. Harutyunyan,2,12 P. A. Hoflich,¨ 13 W. Kloehr,14 V. M. Larionov,4,10,15 V. Lorenzi,12 J. R. Maund,16,17 N. Napoleone,18 M. Ragni,7 M. Richmond,19 C. Ries,5 S. Spiro,1,18,20 S. Temporin,21 M. Turatto22 and J. C. Wheeler17 1Astrophysics Research Centre, School of Mathematics and Physics, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN 2INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Vicolo dell’Osservatorio 5, 35122 Padova, Italy 3Max-Planck-Institut fur¨ Astrophysik, Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 1, 85741 Garching bei Munchen,¨ Germany 4Central Astronomical Observatory of Pulkovo, 196140 St Petersburg, Russia 5Universitats-Sternwarte¨ Munchen,¨ Scheinerstr. 1, 81679 Munchen,¨ Germany 6Great Shefford Observatory, Phlox Cottage, Wantage Road, Great Shefford RG17 7DA 7INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Collurania, via M. Maggini, 64100 Teramo, Italy 8Dipartmento of Astronomia, Universita´ di Padova, Vicolo dell’Osservatorio 2, 35122 Padova, Italy 9Spitzer Science Center, California Institute of Technology, 1200 East California Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91125, USA 10Astronomical Institute of St Petersburg University, St Petersburg, Petrodvorets, Universitetsky pr.
    [Show full text]
  • Pos(BASH 2013)009 † ∗ [email protected] Speaker
    The Progenitor Systems and Explosion Mechanisms of Supernovae PoS(BASH 2013)009 Dan Milisavljevic∗ † Harvard University E-mail: [email protected] Supernovae are among the most powerful explosions in the universe. They affect the energy balance, global structure, and chemical make-up of galaxies, they produce neutron stars, black holes, and some gamma-ray bursts, and they have been used as cosmological yardsticks to detect the accelerating expansion of the universe. Fundamental properties of these cosmic engines, however, remain uncertain. In this review we discuss the progress made over the last two decades in understanding supernova progenitor systems and explosion mechanisms. We also comment on anticipated future directions of research and highlight alternative methods of investigation using young supernova remnants. Frank N. Bash Symposium 2013: New Horizons in Astronomy October 6-8, 2013 Austin, Texas ∗Speaker. †Many thanks to R. Fesen, A. Soderberg, R. Margutti, J. Parrent, and L. Mason for helpful discussions and support during the preparation of this manuscript. c Copyright owned by the author(s) under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike Licence. http://pos.sissa.it/ Supernova Progenitor Systems and Explosion Mechanisms Dan Milisavljevic PoS(BASH 2013)009 Figure 1: Left: Hubble Space Telescope image of the Crab Nebula as observed in the optical. This is the remnant of the original explosion of SN 1054. Credit: NASA/ESA/J.Hester/A.Loll. Right: Multi- wavelength composite image of Tycho’s supernova remnant. This is associated with the explosion of SN 1572. Credit NASA/CXC/SAO (X-ray); NASA/JPL-Caltech (Infrared); MPIA/Calar Alto/Krause et al.
    [Show full text]
  • Arxiv:1402.6337V1 [Astro-Ph.HE] 25 Feb 2014 Novae (SN Ia) Prevent Studies from Conclusively Singling Et Al
    A review of type Ia supernova spectra J. Parrent1,2, B. Friesen3, and M. Parthasarathy4 Abstract SN 2011fe was the nearest and best-observed fairly certain that the progenitor system of SN Ia com- type Ia supernova in a generation, and brought previ- prises at least one compact C+O white dwarf (Chan- ous incomplete datasets into sharp contrast with the drasekhar 1957; Nugent et al. 2011; Bloom et al. 2012). detailed new data. In retrospect, documenting spectro- However, how the state of this primary star reaches scopic behaviors of type Ia supernovae has been more a critical point of disruption continues to elude as- often limited by sparse and incomplete temporal sam- tronomers. This is particularly so given that less than pling than by consequences of signal-to-noise ratios, ∼ 15% of locally observed white dwarfs have a mass a telluric features, or small sample sizes. As a result, few 0.1M greater than a solar mass; very few systems 5 type Ia supernovae have been primarily studied insofar near the formal Chandrasekhar-mass limit ,MCh ≈ as parameters discretized by relative epochs and incom- 1.38 M (Vennes 1999; Liebert et al. 2005; Napiwotzki plete temporal snapshots near maximum light. Here we et al. 2005; Parthasarathy et al. 2007; Napiwotzki et al. discuss a necessary next step toward consistently mod- 2007). eling and directly measuring spectroscopic observables Thus far observational constraints of SN Ia have of type Ia supernova spectra. In addition, we analyze been inconclusive in distinguishing between the follow- current spectroscopic data in the parameter space de- ing three separate theoretical considerations about pos- fined by empirical metrics, which will be relevant even sible progenitor scenarios.
    [Show full text]
  • Distance Estimate and Progenitor Characteristics of SN 2005Cs In
    Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 000, 1–7 (2006) Printed 9 July 2018 (MN LATEX style file v2.2) Distance estimate and progenitor characteristics of SN 2005cs in M51 K. Tak´ats1⋆ and J. Vink´o1† 1Department of Optics and Quantum Electronics, University of Szeged, D´om t´er 9., Szeged, Hungary Accepted; Received; in original form ABSTRACT Distance to the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51, NGC 5194) is estimated using published pho- tometry and spectroscopy of the Type II-P supernova SN 2005cs. Both the Expanding Photosphere Method (EPM) and the Standard Candle Method (SCM), suitable for SNe II-P, were applied. The average distance (7.1 ± 1.2 Mpc) is in good agreement with earlier SBF- and PNLF-based distances, but slightly longer than the distance obtained by Baron et al. (1996) for SN 1994I via the Spectral Fitting Expanding At- mosphere Method (SEAM). Since SN 2005cs exhibited low expansion velocity during the plateau phase, similarly to SN 1999br, the constants of SCM were re-calibrated including the data of SN 2005cs as well. The new relation is better constrained in the −1 low velocity regime (vph(50) ∼ 1500−2000km s ), that may result in better distance estimates for such SNe. The physical parameters of SN 2005cs and its progenitor is re-evaluated based on the updated distance. All the available data support the low- mass (∼ 9 M⊙) progenitor scenario proposed previously by its direct detection with the Hubble Space Telescope (Maund et al. 2005; Li et al. 2006). Key words: stars: evolution – supernovae: individual (SN 2005cs) – galaxies: indi- vidual (M51) 1 INTRODUCTION Both teams have detected the possible progenitor, but only in the I band, which led to the conclusion that the progeni- The Type II-P SN 2005cs in M51 was discovered by Kloehr arXiv:astro-ph/0608430v1 21 Aug 2006 tor was probably a red giant.
    [Show full text]
  • The Progenitor of Supernova 2011Dh/Ptf11eon in Messier 51
    To Appear in ApJ Letters A Preprint typeset using LTEX style emulateapj v. 11/10/09 THE PROGENITOR OF SUPERNOVA 2011DH/PTF11EON IN MESSIER 51 Schuyler D. Van Dyk1, Weidong Li2, S. Bradley Cenko2, Mansi M. Kasliwal3, Assaf Horesh3, Eran O. Ofek3,4, Adam L. Kraus5,6, Jeffrey M. Silverman2, Iair Arcavi7, Alexei V. Filippenko2, Avishay Gal-Yam7, Robert M. Quimby3, Shrinivas R. Kulkarni3, Ofer Yaron7, and David Polishook7 To Appear in ApJ Letters ABSTRACT We have identified a luminous star at the position of supernova (SN) 2011dh/PTF11eon, in pre- SN archival, multi-band images of the nearby, nearly face-on galaxy Messier 51 (M51) obtained by the Hubble Space Telescope with the Advanced Camera for Surveys. This identification has been confirmed, to the highest available astrometric precision, using a Keck-II adaptive-optics image. The available early-time spectra and photometry indicate that the SN is a stripped-envelope, core-collapse Type IIb, with a more compact progenitor (radius ∼ 1011 cm) than was the case for the well-studied SN IIb 1993J. We infer that the extinction to SN 2011dh and its progenitor arises from a low Galactic foreground contribution, and that the SN environment is of roughly solar metallicity. The detected 0 object has absolute magnitude MV ≈ −7.7 and effective temperature ∼ 6000 K. The star’s radius, ∼ 1013 cm, is more extended than what has been inferred for the SN progenitor. We speculate that the detected star is either an unrelated star very near the position of the actual progenitor, or, more likely, the progenitor’s companion in a mass-transfer binary system.
    [Show full text]
  • On the Progenitors of Type Ia Supernovae
    Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications Physics and Astronomy 2-21-2018 On the Progenitors of Type Ia Supernovae Mario Livio University of Nevada, Las Vegas; The Weizmann Institute of Science, [email protected] Paolo Mazzali The Weizmann Institute of Science; Liverpool John Moores University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/physastr_fac_articles Part of the Astrophysics and Astronomy Commons Repository Citation Livio, M., Mazzali, P. (2018). On the Progenitors of Type Ia Supernovae. Physics Reports, 736 1-23. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.physrep.2018.02.002 This Article is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by Digital Scholarship@UNLV with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Article in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/ or on the work itself. This Article has been accepted for inclusion in Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of Digital Scholarship@UNLV. For more information, please contact [email protected]. On the Progenitors of Type Ia SupernovaeI Mario Livio1,2, Paolo Mazzali2,3 Abstract We review all the models proposed for the progenitor systems of Type Ia super- novae and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each scenario when confronted with observations. We show that all scenarios encounter at least a few serious difficulties, if taken to represent a comprehensive model for the progenitors of all Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia).
    [Show full text]