1,794 research outputs found
An ultraviolet excess in the superluminous supernova Gaia16apd reveals a powerful central engine
Since the discovery of superluminous supernovae (SLSNe) in the last decade,
it has been known that these events exhibit bluer spectral energy distributions
than other supernova subtypes, with significant output in the ultraviolet.
However, the event Gaia16apd seems to outshine even the other SLSNe at
rest-frame wavelengths below \AA. Yan et al (2016) have recently
presented HST UV spectra and attributed the UV flux to low metallicity and
hence reduced line blanketing. Here we present UV and optical light curves over
a longer baseline in time, revealing a rapid decline at UV wavelengths despite
a typical optical evolution. Combining the published UV spectra with our own
optical data, we demonstrate that Gaia16apd has a much hotter continuum than
virtually any SLSN at maximum light, but it cools rapidly thereafter and is
indistinguishable from the others by -15 days after peak. Comparing
the equivalent widths of UV absorption lines with those of other events, we
show that the excess UV continuum is a result of a more powerful central power
source, rather than a lack of UV absorption relative to other SLSNe or an
additional component from interaction with the surrounding medium. These
findings strongly support the central-engine hypothesis for hydrogen-poor
SLSNe. An explosion ejecting M, where
is the opacity in cmg, and forming a magnetar with spin
period ms, and G (lower than other SLSNe with
comparable rise-times) can consistently explain the light curve evolution and
high temperature at peak. The host metallicity, Z, is
comparable to other SLSNe.Comment: Updated to match accepted version (ApJL
Bragg scattering of Cooper pairs in an ultra-cold Fermi gas
We present a theoretical treatment of Bragg scattering of a degenerate Fermi
gas in the weakly interacting BCS regime. Our numerical calculations predict
correlated scattering of Cooper pairs into a spherical shell in momentum space.
The scattered shell of correlated atoms is centered at half the usual Bragg
momentum transfer, and can be clearly distinguished from atoms scattered by the
usual single-particle Bragg mechanism. We develop an analytic model that
explains key features of the correlated-pair Bragg scattering, and determine
the dependence of this scattering on the initial pair correlations in the gas.Comment: Manuscript substantially revised. Version 2 contains a more detailed
discussion of the collisional interaction used in our theory, and is based on
three-dimensional solution
Time Dilation from Spectral Feature Age Measurements of Type Ia Supernovae
We have developed a quantitative, empirical method for estimating the age of
Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) from a single spectral epoch. The technique
examines the goodness of fit of spectral features as a function of the temporal
evolution of a large database of SNe Ia spectral features. When a SN Ia
spectrum with good signal-to-noise ratio over the rest frame range 3800 to 6800
A is available, the precision of a spectral feature age (SFA) is (1-sigma) ~
1.4 days. SFA estimates are made for two spectral epochs of SN 1996bj (z=0.574)
to measure the rate of aging at high redshift. In the 10.05 days which elapsed
between spectral observations, SN 1996bj aged 3.35 3.2 days, consistent
with the 6.38 days of aging expected in an expanding Universe and inconsistent
with no time dilation at the 96.4 % confidence level. The precision to which
individual features constrain the supernova age has implications for the source
of inhomogeneities among SNe Ia.Comment: 14 pages (LaTex), 7 postscript figures to Appear in the Astronomical
Journa
Spectroscopy of High-Redshift Supernovae from the ESSENCE Project: The First Two Years
We present the results of spectroscopic observations of targets discovered
during the first two years of the ESSENCE project. The goal of ESSENCE is to
use a sample of ~200 Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) at moderate redshifts (0.2 < z
< 0.8) to place constraints on the equation of state of the Universe.
Spectroscopy not only provides the redshifts of the objects, but also confirms
that some of the discoveries are indeed SNe Ia. This confirmation is critical
to the project, as techniques developed to determine luminosity distances to
SNe Ia depend upon the knowledge that the objects at high redshift are the same
as the ones at low redshift. We describe the methods of target selection and
prioritization, the telescopes and detectors, and the software used to identify
objects. The redshifts deduced from spectral matching of high-redshift SNe Ia
with low-redshift SNe Ia are consistent with those determined from host-galaxy
spectra. We show that the high-redshift SNe Ia match well with low-redshift
templates. We include all spectra obtained by the ESSENCE project, including 52
SNe Ia, 5 core-collapse SNe, 12 active galactic nuclei, 19 galaxies, 4 possibly
variable stars, and 16 objects with uncertain identifications.Comment: 38 pages, 9 figures (many with multiple parts), submitted to A
Multi-color Optical and NIR Light Curves of 64 Stripped-Envelope Core-Collapse Supernovae
We present a densely-sampled, homogeneous set of light curves of 64 low
redshift (z < 0.05) stripped-envelope supernovae (SN of type IIb, Ib, Ic and
Ic-bl). These data were obtained between 2001 and 2009 at the Fred L. Whipple
Observatory (FLWO) on Mt. Hopkins in Arizona, with the optical FLWO 1.2-m and
the near-infrared PAIRITEL 1.3-m telescopes. Our dataset consists of 4543
optical photometric measurements on 61 SN, including a combination of UBVRI,
UBVr'i', and u'BVr'i', and 2142 JHKs near-infrared measurements on 25 SN. This
sample constitutes the most extensive multi-color data set of stripped-envelope
SN to date. Our photometry is based on template-subtracted images to eliminate
any potential host galaxy light contamination. This work presents these
photometric data, compares them with data in the literature, and estimates
basic statistical quantities: date of maximum, color, and photometric
properties. We identify promising color trends that may permit the
identification of stripped-envelope SN subtypes from their photometry alone.
Many of these SN were observed spectroscopically by the CfA SN group, and the
spectra are presented in a companion paper (Modjaz et al. 2014). A thorough
exploration that combines the CfA photometry and spectroscopy of
stripped-envelope core-collapse SN will be presented in a follow-up paper.Comment: 26 pages, 17 figures, 8 tables. Revised version resubmitted to ApJ
Supplements after referee report. Additional online material is available
through http://cosmo.nyu.edu/SNYU
Optical Spectra of 73 Stripped-Envelope Core-Collapse Supernovae
We present 645 optical spectra of 73 supernovae (SNe) of Types IIb, Ib, Ic,
and broad-lined Ic. All of these types are attributed to the core collapse of
massive stars, with varying degrees of intact H and He envelopes before
explosion. The SNe in our sample have a mean redshift = 4200 km/s. Most of
these spectra were gathered at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
(CfA) between 2004 and 2009. For 53 SNe, these are the first published spectra.
The data coverage range from mere identification (1-3 spectra) for a few SNe to
extensive series of observations (10-30 spectra) that trace the spectral
evolution for others, with an average of 9 spectra per SN. For 44 SNe of the 73
SNe presented here, we have well-determined dates of maximum light to determine
the phase of each spectrum. Our sample constitutes the most extensive spectral
library of stripped-envelope SNe to date. We provide very early coverage (as
early as 30 days before V-band max) for photospheric spectra, as well as
late-time nebular coverage when the innermost regions of the SNe are visible
(as late as 2 years after explosion, while for SN1993J, we have data as late as
11.6 years). This data set has homogeneous observations and reductions that
allow us to study the spectroscopic diversity of these classes of stripped SNe
and to compare these to SNe associated with gamma-ray bursts. We undertake
these matters in follow-up papers.Comment: Published by the Astronomical Journal in May 2015. All spectra are
publicly available at the CfA SN archive:
http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/supernova/SNarchive.html . A companion paper on
constructing SNID templates based on these spectra is by Liu & Modjaz (2014)
and the resulting SNID templates are available from the NYU website:
http://cosmo.nyu.edu/SNYU/spectra
Constraints on Cosmological Models from Hubble Space Telescope Observations of High-z Supernovae
We have coordinated Hubble Space Telescope photometry with ground-based
discovery for three supernovae: two SN Ia near z~0.5 (SN 1997ce, SN 1997cj) and
a third event at z=0.97 (SN 1997ck). The superb spatial resolution of HST
separates each supernova from its host galaxy and leads to good precision in
the light curves. The HST data combined with ground-based photometry provide
good temporal coverage. We use these light curves and relations between
luminosity, light curve shape, and color calibrated from low-z samples to
derive relative luminosity distances which are accurate to 10% at z~0.5 and 20%
at z=1. The redshift-distance relation is used to place constraints on the
global mean matter density, Omega_matter, and the normalized cosmological
constant, Omega_Lambda. When the HST sample is combined with the distance to SN
1995K (z=0.48), analyzed by the same precepts, it suggests that matter alone is
insufficient to produce a flat Universe. Specifically, for
Omega_matter+Omega_Lambda=1, Omega_matter is less than 1 with >95% confidence,
and our best estimate of Omega_matter is -0.1 +/- 0.5 if Omega_Lambda=0.
Although the present result is based on a very small sample whose systematics
remain to be explored, it demonstrates the power of HST measurements for high
redshift supernovae.Comment: Submitted to ApJ Letters, 3 figures, 1 plate, additional tabl
Deep Photometry of GRB 041006 Afterglow: Hypernova Bump at Redshift z=0.716
We present deep optical photometry of the afterglow of gamma-ray burst (GRB)
041006 and its associated hypernova obtained over 65 days after detection (55
R-band epochs on 10 different nights). Our early data (t<4 days) joined with
published GCN data indicates a steepening decay, approaching F_nu ~t^{-0.6} at
early times (<<1 day) and F_nu ~t^{-1.3} at late times. The break at
t_b=0.16+-0.04 days is the earliest reported jet break among all GRB
afterglows. During our first night, we obtained 39 exposures spanning 2.15
hours from 0.62 to 0.71 days after the burst that reveal a smooth afterglow,
with an rms deviation of 0.024 mag from the local power-law fit, consistent
with photometric errors. After t~4 days, the decay slows considerably, and the
light curve remains approximately flat at R~24 mag for a month before decaying
by another magnitude to reach R~25 mag two months after the burst. This
``bump'' is well-fitted by a k-corrected light curve of SN1998bw, but only if
stretched by a factor of 1.38 in time. In comparison with the other GRB-related
SNe bumps, GRB 041006 stakes out new parameter space for GRB/SNe, with a very
bright and significantly stretched late-time SN light curve. Within a small
sample of fairly well observed GRB/SN bumps, we see a hint of a possible
correlation between their peak luminosity and their ``stretch factor'', broadly
similar to the well-studied Phillips relation for the type Ia supernovae.Comment: ApJ Letters, accepted. Additional material available at
ftp://cfa-ftp.harvard.edu/pub/kstanek/GRB041006
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