Abstract
Observations of γ-ray photons from a type Ia supernova indicate that stellar explosions of this kind get their energy from sudden thermonuclear fusion in the progenitor star. See Letter p.406 The 'standard candles' of cosmology, type Ia supernovae, are thought to derive from thermonuclear explosions of white dwarf stars, and to be accompanied by the release of large amounts of radioactive nickel-56, decaying into cobalt and iron. This paper reports the first ever detection of cobalt-56 γ-ray emission lines from a type Ia supernova, SN 2014J. The observed spectra are in broad agreement with the classic model of a white dwarf explosion massive enough to be unstable to gravitational collapse, but do not exclude more complicated merger scenarios.
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