Tuesday, February 5, 2013

1302.0009 (Ryan Chornock et al.)

PS1-10afx at z=1.388: Pan-STARRS1 Discovery of a New Type of Superluminous Supernova    [PDF]

Ryan Chornock, E. Berger, A. Rest, D. Milisavljevic, R. Lunnan, R. J. Foley, A. M. Soderberg, S. J. Smartt, A. J. Burgasser, P. Challis, L. Chomiuk, I. Czekala, M. Drout, W. Fong, M. E. Huber, R. P. Kirshner, C. Leibler, B. McLeod, G. H. Marion, G. Narayan, A. G. Riess, K. C. Roth, N. E. Sanders, D. Scolnic, K. Smith, C. W. Stubbs, J. L. Tonry, S. Valenti, W. S. Burgett, K. C. Chambers, K. W. Hodapp, N. Kaiser, R. -P. Kudritzki, P. A. Price
We present the Pan-STARRS1 discovery of PS1-10afx, a unique hydrogen-deficient superluminous supernova (SLSN) at z=1.388. The light curve peaked at z_P1=21.7 mag, making PS1-10afx comparable to the most luminous known SNe, with M_u = -22.3 mag. Our extensive optical and NIR observations indicate that the bolometric light curve of PS1-10afx rose on the unusually fast timescale of ~12 d to the extraordinary peak luminosity of 4.1e44 erg/s (M_bol = -22.8 mag) and subsequently faded rapidly. Equally important, the SED is unusually red for a SLSN, with a color temperature of 6800 K near maximum light, in contrast to previous H-poor SLSNe, which are bright in the UV. The spectra more closely resemble those of a normal SN Ic than any known SLSN, with a photospheric velocity of 11,000 km/s and evidence for line blanketing in the rest-frame UV. Despite the fast rise, these parameters imply a very large emitting radius (>5e15 cm). We demonstrate that no existing theoretical model can satisfactorily explain this combination of properties: (i) a nickel-powered light curve cannot match the combination of high peak luminosity with the fast timescale; (ii) models powered by the spindown energy of a rapidly-rotating magnetar predict significantly hotter and faster ejecta; and (iii) models invoking shock breakout through a dense circumstellar medium cannot explain the observed spectra or color evolution. The host galaxy is well detected in pre-explosion imaging with a luminosity near L*, a star formation rate of 15 M_sun/yr, and is fairly massive (2e10 M_sun), with a stellar population age of 1e8 yr, also in contrast to the dwarf hosts of known H-poor SLSNe. PS1-10afx is distinct from known examples of SLSNe in its spectra, colors, light-curve shape, and host galaxy properties, suggesting that it resulted from a different channel than other hydrogen-poor SLSNe.
View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1302.0009

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