Optical and Near-Infrared Observations of the Highly Reddened, Rapidly Expanding Type Ia Supernova SN 2006X in M100

By Xiaofeng Wang, Weidong Li, A. Filippenko, K. Krisciunas, N. Suntzeff, Junzheng Li, Tianmeng Zhang, J. Deng, R. Foley, M. Ganeshalingam and 7 more. 2007

155 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We present extensive optical (UBVRI), near-infrared (JK) light curves and optical spectroscopy of the Type Ia supernova SN 2006X in the nearby galaxy NGC 4321 (M100). Our observations suggest that either SN 2006X has an intrinsically peculiar color evolution or it is highly reddened [E(B − V)host = 1.42 ± 0.04 mag ] with RV = 1.48 ± 0.06, much lower than the canonical value of 3.1 for the average Galactic dust. SN 2006X also has one of the highest expansion velocities ever published for an SN Ia. Compared with the other SNe Ia we analyzed, SN 2006X has a broader light curve in the U band, a more prominent bump/shoulder feature in the V and R bands, a more pronounced secondary maximum in the I and NIR bands, and a remarkably smaller late-time decline rate in the B band. The B − V color evolution shows an obvious deviation from the Lira-Phillips relation at 1-3 months after maximum brightness. At early times, optical spectra of SN 2006X displayed strong, high-velocity features of both intermediate-mass elements (Si, Ca, and S) and iron peak elements, while at late times they showed a relatively blue continuum, consistent with the blue U − B and B − V colors at similar epochs. A light echo and/or the interaction of the SN ejecta and its circumstellar material may provide a plausible explanation for its late-time photometric and spectroscopic behavior. Using the Cepheid distance of M100, we derive a Hubble constant of 72.8 ± 8.2 km s−1 Mpc−1 (statistical) from the normalized dereddened luminosity of SN 2006X. We briefly discuss whether abnormal dust is a universal signature for all SNe Ia and whether the most rapidly expanding objects form a subclass with distinct photometric and spectroscopic properties.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/2c7a44dd7f1073fd7463db760e2d395003f8c331

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In Astronomy and Astrophysics

1. A. Filippenko
2. R. Kirshner
3. A. Riess
4. S. Jha
5. Weidong Li
6. N. Smith
7. Kaisey S. Mandel
8. W. Freedman

Citations in the corpus

• ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT CURVES OF SUPERNOVAE WITH THE SWIFT ULTRAVIOLET/OPTICAL TELESCOPE (2009, methodology): “…on comparisons with ground based BV data, the error in the coincidence loss correction is negligible at 4.4 counts s−1 (SN 2006X b data compared to Wang et al. 2008 in the right panel of Figure 1), increasing to 0.1 mag at 7.8 counts s−1 (SN 2005cs v data compared to ground-based data in Dessart…”
• THE CARNEGIE SUPERNOVA PROJECT: ANALYSIS OF THE FIRST SAMPLE OF LOW-REDSHIFT TYPE-Ia SUPERNOVAE (2009, methodology): “…1.46 ± 0.17 5.45 ± 0.28 1.59 ± 0.07 Elias-Rosa et al. (2008) 2003cg 1.25 ± 0.05 1.33 ± 0.11 1.80 ± 0.19 Elias-Rosa et al. (2006) 2005A 1.34 ± 0.03 1.11 ± 0.07 1.68 ± 0.10 This paper 2006X 1.31 ± 0.05 1.42 ± 0.04 1.48 ± 0.06 Wang et al. (2008a) 1.29 ± 0.05 1.34 ± 0.07 1.55 ± 0.07 This paper Notes.”
• The helium star donor channel for the progenitors of Type Ia supernovae (2009, background): “This assumption is precarious since there is still no agreement on the nature of their progenitors (Hillebrandt & Niemeyer 2000; Podsiadlowski et al. 2008; Wang et al. 2008a; Gilfanov & Bogdán 2010; Mennekens et al. 2010).”
• IMPROVED DISTANCES TO TYPE Ia SUPERNOVAE WITH TWO SPECTROSCOPIC SUBCLASSES (2009, background): “Tantalizing evidence for the presence of CS material around HV SNe Ia is provided by the detection of variable Na I D absorption lines in SN 2006X and 1999cl (Patat et al. 2007; Wang et al. 2008b; Blondin et al. 2009).”
• Type Ia Supernovae Are Good Standard Candles in the Near Infrared: Evidence from PAIRITEL (2007, background): “377 (2007),Wang et al. (2008), Pignata et al. (2008), andTaubenberger et al. (2008).”
• SPECTRA AND HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE LIGHT CURVES OF SIX TYPE Ia SUPERNOVAE AT 0.511 < z < 1.12 AND THE UNION2 COMPILATION (2010, background): “Several studies of SN Ia colors (Guy et al. 2005, 2007; Wang et al. 2008; Nobili & Goobar 2008, and references therein) indicate that the observed SN Ia reddening does not match the Galactic CCM extinction law with RV = 3.1.”
• THE SPECTROSCOPIC DIVERSITY OF TYPE Ia SUPERNOVAE (2000, unknown): “…Garavini et al. 2007a, Wang et al. 2009b 2005cg Quimby et al. 2006a 2005hj Quimby et al. 2007 2005hk Phillips et al. 2007 2006D Thomas et al. 2007 2006X Wang et al. 2008 2006bt Foley et al. 2010 2006dd Stritzinger et al. 2010 2006gz Hicken et al. 2007ab 2006ot Stritzinger et al. 2011 2007if Scalzo…”
• VARIABLE SODIUM ABSORPTION IN A LOW-EXTINCTION TYPE Ia SUPERNOVA, (2009, background): “Both SN 2006X and SN 2002bo were highly polarized (Wang et al. 2006, 2007; Wang & Wheeler 2008), suggesting that polarization measurements of SN 2007le might be very interesting as well.”
• Low RV from Circumstellar Dust around Supernovae (2008, background): “Simple simulations show that circumstellar material, detected in at least one Type Ia supernova, SN2006X (Patat et al. 2007; Wang et al. 2008b), could potentially explain the empirically determined extinction law for low redshift SNIa, especially if the circumstellar material resembles LMC dust…”