On the diversity of superluminous supernovae: ejected mass as the dominant factor
By M. Nicholl, S. Smartt, A. Jerkstrand, C. Inserra, Stuart A. Sim, Ting-Wan Chen, S. Benetti, Morgan Fraser, A. Gal-yam, E. Kankare and 31 more. 2015
163 citations recorded by the source corpus.
We assemble a sample of 24 hydrogen-poor superluminous supernovae (SLSNe). Parameterizing the light-curve shape through rise and decline time-scales shows that the two are highly correlated. Magnetar-powered models can reproduce the correlation, with the diversity in rise and decline rates driven by the diffusion time-scale. Circumstellar interaction models can exhibit a similar rise–decline relation, but only for a narrow range of densities, which may be problematic for these models. We find that SLSNe are approximately 3.5 mag brighter and have light curves three times broader than SNe Ibc, but that the intrinsic shapes are similar. There are a number of SLSNe with particularly broad light curves, possibly indicating two progenitor channels, but statistical tests do not cleanly separate two populations. The general spectral evolution is also presented. Velocities measured from Fe ii are similar for SLSNe and SNe Ibc, suggesting that diffusion time differences are dominated by mass or opacity. Flat velocity evolution in most SLSNe suggests a dense shell of ejecta. If opacities in SLSNe are similar to other SNe Ibc, the average ejected mass is higher by a factor 2–3. Assuming ? = 0.1?cm2?g?1, we estimate a mean (median) SLSN ejecta mass of 10 M? (6 M?), with a range of 3–30 M?. Doubling the assumed opacity brings the masses closer to normal SNe Ibc, but with a high-mass tail. The most probable mechanism for generating SLSNe seems to be the core collapse of a very massive hydrogen-poor star, forming a millisecond magnetar.
Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/b6b9e679f9c3ebf7e594dbe5a6caf3ca18322373
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In Astronomy and Astrophysics
Citations in the corpus
- The diversity of transients from magnetar birth in core collapse supernovae (2015, background): “If the ejecta mass had been closer to the average value of ≈ 10M inferred for SLSNe-I (Nicholl et al. 2015), then the jet opening angle for GRB 111209A would be much closer to the critical value.”
- The Magnetar Model for Type I Superluminous Supernovae. I. Bayesian Analysis of the Full Multicolor Light-curve Sample with MOSFiT (2017, methodology): “This is similar to the mass estimated by Nicholl et al. (2015a); however, we note that this event became Sun-constrained just before reaching maximum light, and so the shape of the peak is not well constrained.”
- PS16dtm: A Tidal Disruption Event in a Narrow-line Seyfert 1 Galaxy (2017, background): “These include superluminous supernovae (SLSNe; Chomiuk et al. 2011; Quimby et al. 2011; GalYam 2012; Nicholl et al. 2015) with hydrogen (Type II) and without hydrogen (Type I) and tidal disruption events (TDEs; Gezari et al. 2009; van Velzen et al. 2011; Chornock et al. 2014; Komossa 2015), as well…”
- Millisecond Magnetar Birth Connects FRB 121102 to Superluminous Supernovae and Long-duration Gamma-Ray Bursts (2017, methodology): “In §2 we show quantitatively that the host galaxy of FRB 121102 is consistent with those of hydrogen-poor superluminous SNe (SLSNe-I; Quimby et al. 2011; Gal-Yam 2012) and long-duration gamma-ray bursts (LGRBs), a possible connection already pointed out by Tendulkar et al. (2017) and Marcote et al. ”