skip to main content


Title: SN 2021foa: The “Flip-flop” Type IIn/Ibn Supernova
Abstract

We present a comprehensive analysis of the photometric and spectroscopic evolution of SN 2021foa, unique among the class of transitional supernovae for repeatedly changing its spectroscopic appearance from hydrogen-to-helium-to-hydrogen dominated (IIn-to-Ibn-to-IIn) within 50 days past peak brightness. The spectra exhibit multiple narrow (≈300–600 km s−1) absorption lines of hydrogen, helium, calcium, and iron together with broad helium emission lines with a full width at half-maximum (FWHM) of ∼6000 km s−1. For a steady, wind mass-loss regime, light-curve modeling results in an ejecta mass of ∼8Mand circumstellar material (CSM) mass below 1M, and an ejecta velocity consistent with the FWHM of the broad helium lines. We obtain a mass-loss rate of ≈2Myr−1. This mass-loss rate is 3 orders of magnitude larger than derived for normal Type II supernovae. We estimate that the bulk of the CSM of SN 2021foa must have been expelled within half a year, about 12 yr ago. Our analysis suggests that SN 2021foa had a helium-rich ejecta that swept up a dense shell of hydrogen-rich CSM shortly after explosion. At about 60 days past peak brightness, the photosphere recedes through the dense ejecta-CSM region, occulting much of the redshifted emission of the hydrogen and helium lines, which results in an observed blueshift (∼−3000 km s−1). Strong mass-loss activity prior to explosion, such as those seen in SN 2009ip-like objects and SN 2021foa as precursor emission, are the likely origin of a complex, multiple-shell CSM close to the progenitor star.

 
more » « less
PAR ID:
10559414
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; more » ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; « less
Publisher / Repository:
DOI PREFIX: 10.3847
Date Published:
Journal Name:
The Astrophysical Journal
Volume:
977
Issue:
2
ISSN:
0004-637X
Format(s):
Medium: X Size: Article No. 152
Size(s):
Article No. 152
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. Abstract

    We present optical photometry and spectroscopy of the Type IIn supernova (SN) 2021qqp. Its unusual light curve is marked by a long precursor for ≈300 days, a rapid increase in brightness for ≈60 days, and then a sharp increase of ≈1.6 mag in only a few days to a first peak ofMr≈ −19.5 mag. The light curve then declines rapidly until it rebrightens to a second distinct peak ofMr≈ −17.3 mag centered at ≈335 days after the first peak. The spectra are dominated by Balmer lines with a complex morphology, including a narrow component with a width of ≈1300 km s−1(first peak) and ≈2500 km s−1(second peak) that we associate with the circumstellar medium (CSM) and a P Cygni component with an absorption velocity of ≈8500 km s−1(first peak) and ≈5600 km s−1(second peak) that we associate with the SN–CSM interaction shell. Using the luminosity and velocity evolution, we construct a flexible analytical model, finding two significant mass-loss episodes with peak mass loss rates of ≈10 and ≈5Myr−1about 0.8 and 2 yr before explosion, respectively, with a total CSM mass of ≈2–4M. We show that the most recent mass-loss episode could explain the precursor for the year preceding the explosion. The SN ejecta mass is constrained to be ≈5–30Mfor an explosion energy of ≈(3–10) × 1051erg. We discuss eruptive massive stars (luminous blue variable, pulsational pair instability) and an extreme stellar merger with a compact object as possible progenitor channels.

     
    more » « less
  2. Abstract

    A growing number of core-collapse supernovae (SNe) that show evidence for interaction with dense circumstellar medium (CSM) are accompanied by “precursor” optical emission rising weeks to months prior to the explosion. The precursor luminosities greatly exceed the Eddington limit of the progenitor star, implying that they are accompanied by substantial mass loss. Here, we present a semi-analytic model for SN precursor light curves, which we apply to constrain the properties and mechanisms of the pre-explosion mass loss. We explore two limiting mass-loss scenarios: (1) an “eruption” arising from shock breakout following impulsive energy deposition below the stellar surface; and (2) a steady “wind,” due to sustained heating of the progenitor envelope. The eruption model, which resembles a scaled-down version of Type IIP SNe, can explain the luminosities and timescales of well-sampled precursors, for ejecta masses ∼ 0.1–1Mand velocities ∼ 100–1000 km s−1. By contrast, the steady wind scenario cannot explain the highest precursor luminosities ≳ 1041erg s−1, under the constraint that the total ejecta mass does not exceed the entire progenitor mass (though the less luminous SN 2020tlf precursor can be explained by a mass-loss rate ∼ 1Myr−1). However, shock interaction between the wind and pre-existing (earlier ejected) CSM may boost its radiative efficiency and mitigate this constraint. In both the eruption and wind scenarios, the precursor ejecta forms compact (≲1015cm) optically thick CSM at the time of core collapse; though only directly observable via rapid post-explosion spectroscopy (≲ a few days before being overtaken by the SN ejecta), this material can boost the SN luminosity via shock interaction.

     
    more » « less
  3. ABSTRACT

    We present photometry and spectroscopy of the slowly evolving superluminous Type IIn supernova (SN) 2015da. SN 2015da is extraordinary for its very high peak luminosity, and also for sustaining a high luminosity for several years. Even at 8 yr after explosion, SN 2015da remains as luminous as the peak of a normal SN II-P. The total radiated energy integrated over this time period (with no bolometric correction) is at least $1.6 \times 10^{51}$ erg (or 1.6 FOE). Including a mild bolometric correction, adding kinetic energy of the expanding cold dense shell of swept-up circumstellar material (CSM), and accounting for asymmetry, the total explosion kinetic energy was likely 5–10 FOE. Powering the light curve with CSM interaction requires an energetic explosion and 20 M$_{\odot }$ of H-rich CSM, which in turn implies a massive progenitor system $\gt $30 M$_{\odot }$. Narrow P Cyg features show steady CSM expansion at 90 km s$^{-1}$, requiring a high average mass-loss rate of $\sim$0.1 M$_{\odot }$ yr$^{-1}$ sustained for two centuries before explosion (although ramping up toward explosion time). No current theoretical model for single-star pre-SN mass-loss can account for this. The slow CSM, combined with broad wings of H $\alpha$ indicating H-rich material in the unshocked ejecta, disfavours a pulsational pair instability model for the pre-SN mass-loss. Instead, violent pre-SN binary interaction is a likely culprit. Finally, SN 2015da exhibits the characteristic asymmetric blueshift in its emission lines from shortly after peak until the present epoch, adding another well-studied superluminous SNe IIn with unambiguous evidence of post-shock dust formation.

     
    more » « less
  4. Abstract

    Nebular-phase observations of peculiar Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) provide important constraints on progenitor scenarios and explosion dynamics for both these rare SNe and the more common, cosmologically useful SNe Ia. We present observations from an extensive ground- and space-based follow-up campaign to characterize SN 2022pul, a super-Chandrasekhar mass SN Ia (alternatively “03fg-like” SN), from before peak brightness to well into the nebular phase across optical to mid-infrared (MIR) wavelengths. The early rise of the light curve is atypical, exhibiting two distinct components, consistent with SN Ia ejecta interacting with dense carbon–oxygen (C/O)-rich circumstellar material (CSM). In the optical, SN 2022pul is most similar to SN 2012dn, having a low estimated peak luminosity (MB= −18.9 mag) and high photospheric velocity relative to other 03fg-like SNe. In the nebular phase, SN 2022pul adds to the increasing diversity of the 03fg-like subclass. From 168 to 336 days after peakB-band brightness, SN 2022pul exhibits asymmetric and narrow emission from [Oi]λλ6300, 6364 (FWHM ≈ 2000 km s−1), strong, broad emission from [Caii]λλ7291, 7323 (FWHM ≈ 7300 km s−1), and a rapid Feiiito Feiiionization change. Finally, we present the first ever optical-to-MIR nebular spectrum of an 03fg-like SN Ia using data from JWST. In the MIR, strong lines of neon and argon, weak emission from stable nickel, and strong thermal dust emission (withT≈ 500 K), combined with prominent [Oi] in the optical, suggest that SN 2022pul was produced by a white dwarf merger within C/O-rich CSM.

     
    more » « less
  5. Abstract

    We present UV–optical–near-infrared observations and modeling of supernova (SN) 2024ggi, a type II supernova (SN II) located in NGC 3621 at 7.2 Mpc. Early-time (“flash”) spectroscopy of SN 2024ggi within +0.8 days of discovery shows emission lines of Hi, Hei, Ciii, and Niiiwith a narrow core and broad, symmetric wings (i.e., “IIn-like”) arising from the photoionized, optically thick, unshocked circumstellar material (CSM) that surrounded the progenitor star at shock breakout (SBO). By the next spectral epoch at +1.5 days, SN 2024ggi showed a rise in ionization as emission lines of Heii, Civ, Niv/v, and Ovbecame visible. This phenomenon is temporally consistent with a blueward shift in the UV–optical colors, both likely the result of SBO in an extended, dense CSM. The IIn-like features in SN 2024ggi persist on a timescale oftIIn= 3.8 ± 1.6 days, at which time a reduction in CSM density allows the detection of Doppler-broadened features from the fastest SN material. SN 2024ggi has peak UV–optical absolute magnitudes ofMw2= −18.7 mag andMg= −18.1 mag, respectively, that are consistent with the known population of CSM-interacting SNe II. Comparison of SN 2024ggi with a grid of radiation hydrodynamics and non–local thermodynamic equilibrium radiative-transfer simulations suggests a progenitor mass-loss rate ofṀ=102Myr−1(vw= 50 km s−1), confined to a distance ofr< 5 × 1014cm. Assuming a wind velocity ofvw= 50 km s−1, the progenitor star underwent an enhanced mass-loss episode in the last ∼3 yr before explosion.

     
    more » « less