Cooling Envelope Emission Research Articles

SN 2018hna: 1987A-like Supernova with a Signature of Shock Breakout

Abstract High-cadence ultraviolet, optical, and near-infrared photometric and low-resolution spectroscopic observations of the peculiar Type II supernova (SN) 2018hna are presented. The early-phase multiband light curves (LCs) exhibit the adiabatic cooling envelope emission following the shock breakout up to ∼ 14 days from the explosion. SN 2018hna has a rise time of ∼ 88 days in the V band, similar to SN 1987A. A 56Ni mass of ∼0.087 ± 0.004 M ⊙ is inferred for SN 2018hna from its bolometric LC. Hydrodynamical modeling of the cooling phase suggests a progenitor with a radius ∼50 R ⊙, a mass of ∼14–20 M ⊙, and an explosion energy of ∼1.7–2.9 × 1051 erg. The smaller inferred radius of the progenitor than a standard red supergiant is indicative of a blue supergiant progenitor of SN 2018hna. A subsolar metallicity (∼0.3 Z ⊙) is inferred for the host galaxy UGC 07534, concurrent with the low-metallicity environments of 1987A-like events.

Shock-powered light curves of luminous red novae as signatures of pre-dynamical mass-loss in stellar mergers

Luminous red novae (LRN) are a class of optical transients believed to originate from the mergers of binary stars, or "common envelope" events. Their light curves often show secondary maxima, which cannot be explained in the previous models of thermal energy diffusion or hydrogen recombination without invoking multiple independent shell ejections. We propose that double-peaked light curves are a natural consequence of a collision between dynamically-ejected fast shell and pre-existing equatorially-focused material, which was shed from the binary over many orbits preceding the dynamical event. The fast shell expands freely in the polar directions, powering the initial optical peak through cooling envelope emission. Radiative shocks from the collision in the equatorial plane power the secondary light curve peak on the radiative diffusion timescale of the deeper layers, similar to luminous Type IIn supernovae and some classical novae. Using a detailed 1D analytic model, informed by complementary 3D hydrodynamical simulations, we show that shock-powered emission can explain the observed range of peak timescales and luminosities of the secondary peaks in LRN for realistic variations in the binary parameters and fraction of the binary mass ejected. The dense shell created by the radiative shocks in the equatorial plane provides an ideal location for dust nucleation consistent with the the inferred aspherical geometry of dust in LRN. For giant stars, the ejecta forms dust when the shock-powered luminosity is still high, which could explain the infrared transients recently discovered by Spitzer. Our results suggest that pre-dynamical mass loss is common if not ubiquitous in stellar mergers, providing insight into the instabilities responsible for driving the binary merger.

THE IMPORTANCE OF 56Ni IN SHAPING THE LIGHT CURVES OF TYPE II SUPERNOVAE

ABSTRACT What intrinsic properties shape the light curves of SNe II? To address this question we derive observational measures that are robust (i.e., insensitive to detailed radiative transfer) and constrain the contribution from 56Ni as well as a combination of the envelope mass, progenitor radius, and explosion energy. By applying our methods to a sample of SNe II from the literature, we find that a 56Ni contribution is often significant. In our sample, its contribution to the time-weighted integrated luminosity during the photospheric phase ranges between 8% and 72% with a typical value of 30%. We find that the 56Ni relative contribution is anti-correlated with the luminosity decline rate. When added to other clues, this in turn suggests that the flat plateaus often observed in SNe II are not a generic feature of the cooling envelope emission, and that without 56Ni many of the SNe that are classified as II-P would have shown a decline rate that is steeper by up to 1 mag/100 days. Nevertheless, we find that the cooling envelope emission, and not 56Ni contribution, is the main driver behind the observed range of decline rates. Furthermore, contrary to previous suggestions, our findings indicate that fast decline rates are not driven by lower envelope masses. We therefore suggest that the difference in observed decline rates is mainly a result of different density profiles of the progenitors.

THE DOUBLE-PEAKED SN 2013ge: A TYPE Ib/c SN WITH AN ASYMMETRIC MASS EJECTION OR AN EXTENDED PROGENITOR ENVELOPE

ABSTRACT We present extensive multiwavelength (radio to X-ray) observations of the Type Ib/c supernova (SN Ib/c) SN 2013ge from −13 to +457 days relative to maximum light, including a series of optical spectra and Swift UV–optical photometry beginning 2–4 days post-explosion. This data set makes SN 2013ge one of the best-observed normal SNe Ib/c at early times—when the light curve is particularly sensitive to the progenitor configuration and mixing of radioactive elements—and reveals two distinct light curve components in the UV bands. The first component rises over 4–5 days and is visible for the first week post-explosion. Spectra of the first component have blue continua and show a plethora of moderately high velocity (∼15,000 km s−1) but narrow (∼3500 km s−1) spectroscopic features, indicating that the line-forming region is restricted. The explosion parameters estimated for the bulk explosion ( M ej ∼ 2–3 M ⊙ ; E K ∼ (1–2) × 1051 erg) are standard for SNe Ib/c, and there is evidence for weak He features at early times—in an object that would have otherwise been classified as Type Ic. In addition, SN 2013ge exploded in a low-metallicity environment (∼0.5 Z ⊙ ), and we have obtained some of the deepest radio and X-ray limits for an SN Ib/c to date, which constrain the progenitor mass-loss rate to be M ˙ < 4 × 10−6 M ⊙ yr−1. We are left with two distinct progenitor scenarios for SN 2013ge, depending on our interpretation of the early emission. If the first component is cooling envelope emission, then the progenitor of SN 2013ge either possessed an extended (≳30 R ⊙ ) envelope or ejected a portion of its envelope in the final ≲ 1 yr before core collapse. Alternatively, if the first component is due to outwardly mixed 56Ni, then our observations are consistent with the asymmetric ejection of a distinct clump of nickel-rich material at high velocities. Current models for the collision of an SN shock with a binary companion cannot reproduce both the timescale and luminosity of the early emission in SN 2013ge. Finally, the spectra of the first component of SN 2013ge are similar to those of the rapidly declining SN 2002bj.

RAPIDLY RISING TRANSIENTS FROM THE SUBARU HYPER SUPRIME-CAM TRANSIENT SURVEY*

ABSTRACT We present rapidly rising transients discovered by a high-cadence transient survey with the Subaru telescope and Hyper Suprime-Cam. We discovered five transients at z = 0.384–0.821, showing a rate of rise faster than 1 mag per day in the restframe near-ultraviolet wavelengths. The fast rate of rise and brightness are most similar to SN 2010aq and PS1-13arp, for which ultraviolet emission was detected within a few days after the shock breakout. The lower limit of the event rate of rapidly rising transients is ∼9% of core-collapse supernova rates, assuming the duration of rapid rise to be 1 day. We show that the light curves of the three faint objects agree with the cooling envelope emission from the explosion of red supergiants. The other two luminous objects, however, are brighter and faster than the cooling envelope emission. We interpret these two objects to be the shock breakout from a dense wind with a mass loss rate of ∼10−3 M ⊙ ?> yr−1, as also proposed for PS1-13arp. This mass loss rate is higher than that typically observed for red supergiants. The event rate of these luminous objects is ≳1% of the core-collapse supernova rate, and thus our study implies that more than ∼1% of massive stars can experience intense mass loss a few years before the explosion.

PROGENITORS OF TYPE IIb SUPERNOVAE IN THE LIGHT OF RADIO AND X-RAYS FROM SN 2013df

ABSTRACT We present radio and X-ray observations of the nearby SN IIb 2013df in NGC 4414 from 10 to 250 days after the explosion. The radio emission showed a peculiar steep-to-shallow spectral evolution. We present a model in which inverse Compton cooling of synchrotron emitting electrons can account for the observed spectral and light curve evolution. A significant mass-loss rate, M ˙ ≈ 8 × 10 − 5 M ⊙ ?> yr−1 for a wind velocity of 10 km s−1, is estimated from the detailed modeling of radio and X-ray emission, which are primarily due to synchrotron and bremsstrahlung, respectively. We show that SN 2013df is similar to SN 1993J in various ways. The shock wave speed of SN 2013df was found to be average among the radio supernovae; v sh / c ∼ 0.07 ?> . We did not find any significant deviation from smooth decline in the light curve of SN 2013df. One of the main results of our self-consistent multiband modeling is the significant deviation from energy equipartition between magnetic fields and relativistic electrons behind the shock. We estimate ϵ e = 200 ϵ B ?> . In general for SNe IIb, we find that the presence of bright optical cooling envelope emission is linked with free–free radio absorption and bright thermal X-ray emission. This finding suggests that more extended progenitors, similar to that of SN 2013df, suffer from substantial mass loss in the years before the supernova.

GALEXDETECTION OF SHOCK BREAKOUT IN TYPE IIP SUPERNOVA PS1-13arp: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PROGENITOR STAR WIND

We present the GALEX detection of a UV burst at the time of explosion of an optically normal Type II-P supernova (PS1-13arp) from the Pan-STARRS1 survey at z=0.1665. The temperature and luminosity of the UV burst match the theoretical predictions for shock breakout in a red supergiant, but with a duration a factor of ~50 longer than expected. We compare the $NUV$ light curve of PS1-13arp to previous GALEX detections of Type IIP SNe, and find clear distinctions that indicate that the UV emission is powered by shock breakout, and not by the subsequent cooling envelope emission previously detected in these systems. We interpret the ~ 1 d duration of the UV signal with a shock breakout in the wind of a red supergiant with a pre-explosion mass-loss rate of ~ 10^-3 Msun yr^-1. This mass-loss rate is enough to prolong the duration of the shock breakout signal, but not enough to produce an excess in the optical plateau light curve or narrow emission lines powered by circumstellar interaction. This detection of non-standard, potentially episodic high mass-loss in a RSG SN progenitor has favorable consequences for the prospects of future wide-field UV surveys to detect shock breakout directly in these systems, and provide a sensitive probe of the pre-explosion conditions of SN progenitors.

RAPIDLY EVOLVING AND LUMINOUS TRANSIENTS FROM PAN-STARRS1

In the past decade, several rapidly-evolving transients have been discovered whose timescales and luminosities are not easily explained by traditional supernovae (SN) models. The sample size of these objects has remained small due, at least in part, to the challenge of detecting short timescale transients with traditional survey cadences. Here we present the results from a search within the Pan-STARRS1 Medium Deep Survey (PS1-MDS) for rapidly-evolving and luminous transients. We identify 10 new transients with a time above half-maximum of less than 12 days and -16.5 > M > -20 mag. This increases the number of known events in this region of SN phase space by roughly a factor of three. The median redshift of the PS1-MDS sample is z=0.275 and they all exploded in star forming galaxies. In general, the transients possess faster rise than decline timescale and blue colors at maximum light (g - r < -0.2). Best fit blackbodies reveal photospheric temperatures/radii that expand/cool with time and explosion spectra taken near maximum light are dominated by a blue continuum, consistent with a hot, optically thick, ejecta. We find it difficult to reconcile the short timescale, high peak luminosity (L > 10^43 erg/s), and lack of UV line blanketing observed in many of these transients with an explosion powered mainly by the radioactive decay of Ni-56. Rather, we find that many are consistent with either (1) cooling envelope emission from the explosion of a star with a low-mass extended envelope which ejected very little (<0.03 M_sun) radioactive material, or (2) a shock breakout within a dense, optically thick, wind surrounding the progenitor star. After calculating the detection efficiency for objects with rapid timescales in the PS1-MDS we find a volumetric rate of 4800 - 8000 events/yr/Gpc^3 (4-7% of the core-collapse SN rate at z=0.2).