SN 2005ap: A Most Brilliant Explosion

By R. Quimby, G. Aldering, J. C. Wheeler, P. Höflich, C. Akerlof, Eli S. Rykoff. 2007

209 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We present unfiltered photometric observations with ROTSE-III and optical spectroscopic follow-up with HET and the Keck telescope of the most luminous supernova yet identified, SN 2005ap. The spectra taken about 3 days before and 6 days after maximum light show narrow emission lines (likely originating in the dwarf host) and absorption lines at a redshift of z = 0.2832, which puts the peak unfiltered magnitude at -22.7 ± 0.1 absolute. Broad P Cygni features corresponding to Hα, C III, N III, and O III are further detected with a photospheric velocity of ~20,000 km s-1. Unlike other highly luminous supernovae such as 2006gy and 2006tf that show slow photometric evolution, the light curve of SN 2005ap indicates a 1-3 week rise to peak followed by a relatively rapid decay. The spectra also lack the distinct emission peaks from moderately broadened (FWHM ~2000 km s-1) Balmer lines seen in SN 2006gy and SN 2006tf. We briefly discuss the origin of the extraordinary luminosity from a strong interaction as may be expected from a pair instability eruption or a GRB-like engine encased in a H/He envelope.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Instrumentation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/a5a6f0d320b7b24a04b91d52aebf988a56f2fcac

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In Astronomy and Astrophysics

1. E. Berger
2. S. Smartt
3. B. Metzger
4. N. Smith
5. Stan Woosley
6. A. Filippenko
7. E. Quataert
8. Ryan Chornock

In Instrumentation

1. N. Smith
2. Stan Woosley
3. A. Filippenko
4. Weidong Li
5. P. Hopkins
6. S. Smartt
7. E. Quataert
8. A. Riess

Citations in the corpus

• SN 2006tf: Precursor Eruptions and the Optically Thick Regime of Extremely Luminous Type IIn Supernovae (2008, methodology): “The problem is that in SN 2006gy, the weak Hα and X-ray emission imply mass-loss rates a factor of 102–104 smaller (Smith et al. 2007), while SN 2005ap shows no spectral signature of CSM interaction at all (i.e., it was not a SN IIn; Quimby et al. 2007a).”
• On the diversity of superluminous supernovae: ejected mass as the dominant factor (2015, background): “As SLSNe are extremely rare events, and were largely unknown before the discoveries of SNe 2005ap (Quimby et al. 2007) and SCP06F6 (Barbary et al. 2009), the paucity of observed events has so far restricted the analysis of their properties as a group.”
• Shell-shocked Diffusion Model for the Light Curve of SN 2006gy (2007, background): “Recently, Quimby et al. (2007) advocated just such a model for SN 2005ap, which had an extremely high peak luminosity exceeding that of SN 2006gy, but faded much faster.”
• Pan-STARRS1 DISCOVERY OF TWO ULTRALUMINOUS SUPERNOVAE AT z ≈ 0.9 (2011, methodology): “…2: Magnetar Spin-Down Kasen & Bildsten (2010, henceforth KB10) and Woosley (2010) have shown that the spin-down of a magnetar can explain the ultra-luminous SNe with broader light curves and slower decays like SN 2005ap (Quimby et al. 2007) and SN 2008es (Gezari et al. 2009; Miller et al. 2009).”
• PAIR INSTABILITY SUPERNOVAE: LIGHT CURVES, SPECTRA, AND SHOCK BREAKOUT (2011, background): “Interest in PI SNe has recently been renewed by the discovery, in the more nearby universe, of several supernovae of extraordinary brightness (Knop et al. 1999; Quimby et al. 2007; Barbary et al. 2009; Quimby et al. 2009; Smith et al. 2006; Gezari et al. 2009).”
• ANALYTICAL LIGHT CURVE MODELS OF SUPERLUMINOUS SUPERNOVAE: χ2-MINIMIZATION OF PARAMETER FITS (2013, methodology): “SN 2005ap was the first SLSN discovered by the Robotic Optical Transient Search Experiment (ROTSE) telescopes of the TSS program (Quimby et al. 2007).”
• Light-curve modelling of superluminous supernova 2006gy: collision between supernova ejecta and a dense circumstellar medium (2012, background): “…the most spectacular are superluminous SNe E-mail: takashi.moriya@ipmu.jp (SLSNe), which typically become brighter than ∼ −21 mag in the optical (e.g. Quimby et al. 2007, 2011; Smith et al. 2007; Barbary et al. 2009; Gal-Yam et al. 2009; Gezari et al. 2009; Miller et al. 2009; Drake et al. 2010,…”
• SUPERNOVA LIGHT CURVES POWERED BY YOUNG MAGNETARS (2009, background): “Events brighter than MBol = −21 (L > 8 × 1043 erg s−1), such as the ultrabright Type II-L SN 2005ap (Quimby et al. 2007) and SN 2008es (Gezari et al. 2009; Miller et al. 2009) require an initial magnetar spin of < 5 ms. Motivated by Figure 4, we found an excellent fit to the SN 2008es light curve…”
• Nearby Supernova Rates from the Lick Observatory Supernova Search. II. The Observed Luminosity Functions and Fractions of Supernovae in a Complete Sample (2010, background): “Recently, several extremely luminous CC SNe have been reported, including SN 2003ma (Rest et al. 2009), SN 2005ap (Quimby et al. 2007), SN 2006gy (Smith et al. 2007; Ofek et al. 2007), SN 2006tf (Smith et al. 2008), SN 2008es (Miller et al. 2009; Gezari et al. 2009), and SN 2008fz (Drake et al.…”
• Progenitors of Core-Collapse Supernovae (2009, background): “For SN2005ap Quimby et al. (2007) suggest the collision shock and thermalization and also the possibility of a jet explosion (GRB-like) within a H-rich massive progenitor.”
• SUPER-LUMINOUS TYPE Ic SUPERNOVAE: CATCHING A MAGNETAR BY THE TAIL (2013, background): “…was labelled by Gal-Yam (2012) as Super-Luminous Type I Supernovae, or “SLSN-I” and the two earliest examples are SCP-06F6 and SN 2005ap (Barbary et al. 2009; Quimby et al. 2007) which are characterized at early times by a blue continuum and a distinctive “W”-shaped spectral feature at ∼4200 Å.”
• Millisecond Magnetar Birth Connects FRB 121102 to Superluminous Supernovae and Long-duration Gamma-Ray Bursts (2017, background): “…only been available for a large number of GRBs since the launch of Swift in 2005, and that the first SLSNe-I were discovered in 2005 and 2006 (SN2005ap; Quimby et al. 2007, and SCP06F6; Barbary et al. 2009), the ability to monitor LGRB/SLSNe-I on & decade timescales is only now becoming possible.”
• Rates of superluminous supernovae at z ∼ 0.2 (2013, background): “The first spectrum lacked the strong P-Cygni profiles typically seen in supernova spectra, but the rise in flux toward shorter wavelengths did indicate at hot photosphere (Quimby et al. 2007).”
• THE ULTRAVIOLET-BRIGHT, SLOWLY DECLINING TRANSIENT PS1-11af AS A PARTIAL TIDAL DISRUPTION EVENT (2013, background): “The bulk of the hydrogenpoor SLSNe published to date are significantly more luminous in u than PS1-11af (e.g., Quimby et al. 2007, 2011; Chomiuk et al. 2011).”
• SPECTRAL EVOLUTION OF THE EXTRAORDINARY TYPE IIn SUPERNOVA 2006gy (2009, background): “…had the hghest peak luminosity of any known SN when it was discovered (Ofek et al. 2007; Smith et al. 2007), subsequent discoveries of SN 2005ap5 5 Although the explosion of SN 2005ap obviously occurred before SN 2006gy, its distance and high luminosity were recognized later (Quimby et al. 2007).”
• Nucleosynthesis in Stars and the Chemical Enrichment of Galaxies (2013, background): “The observed diversity of supernovae further extends to “faint supernovae” and superluminous supernovae (Quimby et al. 2007).”
• SN 2008S: An electron-capture SN from a super-AGB progenitor? (2009, background): “However, the simplicity of the emergingpicture is compromised by the growing number of peculiar events(e.g. Kulkarni et al. 2007; Smith et al. 2007; Quimby et al. 2007).”