SN 2006jc: A Wolf-Rayet Star Exploding in a Dense He-rich Circumstellar Medium

By R. Foley, N. Smith, M. Ganeshalingam, Weidong Li, Ryan Chornock, A. Filippenko. 2006

254 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We present optical photometry and spectra of the peculiar Type Ib supernova (SN) 2006jc. Strong and relatively narrow He I emission lines indicate the progenitor star exploded inside a dense circumstellar medium (CSM) rich in He. An exceptionally blue apparent continuum persists from our first spectrum obtained 15 days after discovery through our last spectrum ~1 month later. Based on the presence of isolated Fe II emission lines, we interpret the blue "continuum" as blended, perhaps fluorescent, Fe emission. One or two of the reddest He I line profiles in our spectra are double-peaked, suggesting that the CSM has an aspherical geometry. The He I lines that are superposed on the blue continuum show P Cygni profiles, while the redder He I lines do not, implying that the blue continuum also originates from an asymmetric mass distribution. The He-rich CSM, aspherical geometry, and line velocities indicate that the progenitor star was a WNE Wolf-Rayet (W-R) star. A recent (2 years before the SN), coincident, luminous outburst similar to those seen in luminous blue variables (LBVs) is the leading candidate for the dense CSM. Such an eruption associated with a W-R star has not been seen before, indicating that the progenitor star may have recently transitioned from the LBV phase. We also present unpublished spectral and photometric data on SN 2002ao, which, along with SN 1999cq, is very similar to SN 2006jc. We propose that these three objects may represent a new and distinct class of SNe arising from W-R progenitors surrounded by a dense CSM.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Instrumentation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/3ed9520c190a7a69e2a653203fcdf80006073b94

How researchers see this paper

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In Astronomy and Astrophysics

1. S. Smartt
2. N. Smith
3. A. Filippenko
4. E. Berger
5. Ryan Chornock
6. Weidong Li
7. R. Kirshner
8. Stan Woosley

In Electrical and Electronic Engineering

1. N. Smith
2. S. Jha
3. A. Riess
4. A. Filippenko
5. A. Gal-yam
6. S. Smartt
7. Ryan Chornock
8. J. Silverman

In Instrumentation

1. N. Smith
2. A. Filippenko
3. S. Smartt
4. Weidong Li
5. J. Silverman
6. Stan Woosley
7. Luis C. Ho
8. Ryan Chornock

Citations in the corpus

• FROM SHOCK BREAKOUT TO PEAK AND BEYOND: EXTENSIVE PANCHROMATIC OBSERVATIONS OF THE TYPE Ib SUPERNOVA 2008D ASSOCIATED WITH SWIFT X-RAY TRANSIENT 080109 (2008, methodology): “In addition, the HIRES spectrum was reduced using HIRedux29, an IDL package developed by one of us (J.X.P.) for the HIRES mosaic, and the GMOS-S and DEIMOS spectra were reduced using slightly different techniques (see Foley et al. 2006, 2007).”
• PREPARING FOR AN EXPLOSION: HYDRODYNAMIC INSTABILITIES AND TURBULENCE IN PRESUPERNOVAE (2013, background): “…for the precursor transient source, but the SN explosion 2 years later had strong narrow emission lines of He, indicating dense CSM (Pastorello et al. 2007; Foley et al. 2007).10 stellar evolution models, which do not adequately include binary effects (see Smith 2014 for a detailed discussion).”
• The Unprecedented Third Outburst of SN 2009ip: A Luminous Blue Variable Becomes a Supernova (2012, background): “The precursor outburst, observed only photometrically, was believed to be the source of dense CSM emission and X-rays detected throughout the evolution of the SN spectrum (Pastorello et al. 2007; Foley et al. 2007; Smith et al. 2008b; Immler et al. 2008).”
• The death of massive stars – I. Observational constraints on the progenitors of Type II-P supernovae (2008, background): “A luminous outburst or eruption from a progenitor star for the Type Ibn SN2006jc was detected (Foley et al. 2007; Pastorello et al. 2007), but the progenitor was not detected in a quiescent phase.”
• Characterizing Supernova Progenitors via the Metallicities of their Host Galaxies, from Poor Dwarfs to Rich Spirals (2007, background): “This is a peculiar SN Ib/c supernova with strong He i lines in emission in the spectrum (Crotts et al. 2006), thought to arise from the interaction of the supernova ejecta with a He-rich circumstellar medium (Foley et al. 2007; Pastorello et al. 2007).”
• Mass Loss: Its Effect on the Evolution and Fate of High-Mass Stars (2014, background): “No spectra were obtained, but the coincident SN explosion 2 years later was a Type Ibn with strong narrow He i emission lines (Foley et al. 2007, Pastorello et al. 2007).”
• CORE-COLLAPSE SUPERNOVAE FROM THE PALOMAR TRANSIENT FACTORY: INDICATIONS FOR A DIFFERENT POPULATION IN DWARF GALAXIES (2010, background): “1Here we exclude new subclasses for which only a few examples have been identified, such as pairproduction events (Gal-Yam et al. 2009), very luminous SNe (Quimby et al. 2009), Type Ibn SNe (Foley et al. 2007; Pastorello et al. 2008a), SN 2002cx-like events (Li et al. 2003), and SN 2002ic-like event”
• SHOCK BREAKOUT IN DENSE MASS LOSS: LUMINOUS SUPERNOVAE (2011, background): “An eruption was observed 2 years before the explosion of SN 2006jc, which was a H-poor, Type Ib supernova (Pastorello et al. 2007; Foley et al. 2007).”
• Nearby supernova rates from the Lick Observatory Supernova Search – I. The methods and data base (2010, unknown): “The two spectra we obtained of SN 2002bj do not exhibit obvious H Balmer lines, and show some resemblance to the peculiar SN Ibc 2006jc (Foley et al. 2007; Pastorello et al. 2007).”
• Dust Formation and He II λ4686 Emission in the Dense Shell of the Peculiar Type Ib Supernova 2006jc (2007, background): “The apparent magnitude of the transient event 2 yr before SN 2006jc was consistent with one of these giant LBV eruptions, but to see one from a WR star is highly unexpected, as noted by Foley et al. (2007) and Pastorello et al. (2007).”
• Unifying Type II Supernova Light Curves with Dense Circumstellar Material (2016, background): “This evidence can come in the form of direct detections of preSN outbursts (e.g., Foley et al. 2007; Pastorello et al. 2007; Smith et al. 2010; Foley et al. 2011; Mauerhan et al. 2013; Pastorello et al. 2013) or inferred from the dense CSM needed to explain SN light curves (e.g., Smith & McCray…”
• INTERACTING SUPERNOVAE AND SUPERNOVA IMPOSTORS: SN 2009ip, IS THIS THE END? (2012, background): “…We note that eruptive Wolf-Rayet stars, producing impostors with a luminosity similar to that of an LBV outburst, have later on been observed to explode as He-rich Ibn SNe (Pastorello et al. 2007, 2008a; Foley et al. 2007) or hybrid IIn/Ibn events (Pastorello et al. 2008b; Smith et al. 2012).”
• Berkeley Supernova Ia Program – I. Observations, data reduction and spectroscopic sample of 582 low-redshift Type Ia supernovae (2012, methodology): “Previous descriptions of our methods can be found in Matheson et al. (2000), Li et al. (2001), Foley et al. (2003), Foley et al. (2007), and Matheson et al. (2008), but the discussion below supersedes them.”
• Massive stars exploding in a He-rich circumstellar medium. I. Type Ibn (SN 2006jc-like) events (2008, methodology): “The analysis of the spectral prope ties (Pastorello et al. 2007a; Foley et al. 2007) showed that the ejecta of SN 2006jc were rich in intermediate-mass elements like normal SNe Ic, and there was evidence of the presence of a slowly moving, He-rich CSM. Luminous outbursts, such as that observedin…”
• Progenitor mass constraints for core-collapse supernovae from correlations with host galaxy star formation⋆ (2012, background): “…(i.e. SNe that were discovered in data presented in AJ08 and Anderson & James 2009, but after their publication), or new data specifically 5 This SN is actually part of a peculiar class of Ibc objects which also show signs of interaction with CSM (e.g. Foley et al. 2007; Pastorello et al. 2008).”
• THE FIRST SYSTEMATIC STUDY OF TYPE Ibc SUPERNOVA MULTI-BAND LIGHT CURVES (2010, unknown): “…events (i.e., the Ca-rich SN 2005E; Peretset al. 2010, the double-peaked SN 2005bf; Folatelliet al. 2006, and the SNe Ibn 2006jc and 2005la; Foley et al. 2007; Pastorelloet al. 2007, 2008), we construct a sample of 10 SNe Ibc: 1994I, 1999ex, 2002ap, 2003jd, 2004aw, 2007Y, 2007gr, 2007ru,…”
• Observational and Physical Classification of Supernovae (2016, unknown): “The class was recognized by Pastorello et al. (2007; 2008a) following the discovery of the nearby event SN 2006jc (Pastorello et al. 2007; Foley et al. 2007).”
• OPTICAL SPECTRA OF 73 STRIPPED-ENVELOPE CORE-COLLAPSE SUPERNOVAE (2014, background): “…SN 2006jc was a well-observed SN since it was a peculiar SN Ib with He lines in emission, indicating interaction between the SN ejecta and a dense helium shell (e.g., Foley et al. 2007; Pastorello et al. 2007; Immler et al. 2007) and early onset of dust production (e.g., Smith et al. (2008).”
• Pan-STARRS1 DISCOVERY OF TWO ULTRALUMINOUS SUPERNOVAE AT z ≈ 0.9 (2011, background): “Meanwhile, Foley et al. (2007) point out that a dense He-rich CSM is required to explain the bright He I emission lines in SNe 1999cq, 2002ao, and 2006jc, and hypothesize that perhaps LBV-like eruptions can persist into the WR stage.”