Three-dimensional simulations of the interaction between Type Ia supernova ejecta and their main sequence companions

The identity of the progenitor systems of SNe Ia is still uncertain. In the single-degenerate (SD) scenario, the interaction between the SN blast wave and the outer layers of a main sequence (MS) companion star strips off H-rich material which is then mixed into the ejecta. Strong contamination of the SN ejecta with stripped material could lead to a conflict with observations of SNe Ia. This constrains the SD progenitor model. In this work, our previous simulations based on simplified progenitor donor stars have been updated by adopting more realistic progenitor-system models that result from fully detailed, state-of-the-art binary evolution calculations. We use Eggleton's stellar evolution code including the optically thick accretion wind model and the possibility of the effects of accretion disk instabilities to obtain realistic models of companions for different progenitor systems. The impact of the SN blast wave on these companion stars is followed in three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations employing the SPH code GADGET3. We find that the stripped masses range from 0.11 to 0.18 M_sun. The kick velocity is between 51 and 105 km/s. We find that the stripped mass and kick velocity depend on the ratio of the orbital separation to the radius of a companion. They can be fitted by a power law for a given companion model. However, the structure of the companion star is also important for the amount of stripped material. With more realistic companion star models than in previous studies, our simulations show that the H masses stripped from companions are inconsistent with the best observational limits (< 0.01 M_sun) derived from nebular spectra. However, a rigorous forward modeling based on impact simulations with radiation transfer is required to reliably predict observable signatures of the stripped H and to conclusively assess the viability of the considered SN Ia progenitor scenario.Comment: 14 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication by A&

The Effects of Binary Evolution on the Dynamics of Core Collapse and Neutron-Star Kicks

We systematically examine how the presence in a binary affects the final core structure of a massive star and its consequences for the subsequent supernova explosion. Interactions with a companion star may change the final rate of rotation, the size of the helium core, the strength of carbon burning and the final iron core mass. Stars with initial masses larger than \sim 11\Ms that experiece core collapse will generally have smaller iron cores at the time of the explosion if they lost their envelopes due to a previous binary interaction. Stars below \sim 11\Ms, on the other hand, can end up with larger helium and metal cores if they have a close companion, since the second dredge-up phase which reduces the helium core mass dramatically in single stars does not occur once the hydrogen envelope is lost. We find that the initially more massive stars in binary systems with masses in the range 8 - 11\Ms are likely to undergo an electron-capture supernova, while single stars in the same mass range would end as ONeMg white dwarfs. We suggest that the core collapse in an electron-capture supernova (and possibly in the case of relatively small iron cores) leads to a prompt explosion rather than a delayed neutrino-driven explosion and that this naturally produces neutron stars with low-velocity kicks. This leads to a dichotomous distribution of neutron star kicks, as inferred previously, where neutron stars in relatively close binaries attain low kick velocities. We illustrate the consequences of such a dichotomous kick scenario using binary population synthesis simulations and discuss its implications. This scenario has also important consequences for the minimum initial mass of a massive star that becomes a neutron star. (Abbreviated.)Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, submitted to ApJ, updated versio

The Impact of Type Ia Supernova Explosions on Helium Companions in the Chandrasekhar-mass Explosion Scenario

In the version of the single-degenerate scenario of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) studied here, a carbon–oxygen white dwarf explodes close to the Chandrasekhar limit after accreting material from a non-degenerate helium (He) companion star. In the present study, we employ the Stellar GADGET code to perform three-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations of the interaction of the SN Ia ejecta with the He companion star taking into account its orbital motion and spin. It is found that only 2%–5% of the initial companion mass is stripped off from the outer layers of He companion stars due to the supernova (SN) impact. The dependence of the unbound mass (or the kick velocity) on the orbital separation can be fitted to a good approximation by a power law for a given companion model. After the SN impact, the outer layers of a He donor star are significantly enriched with heavy elements from the low-expansion-velocity tail of SN Ia ejecta. The total mass of accumulated SN-ejecta material on the companion surface reaches about 10−3 M for different companion models. This enrichment with heavy elements provides a potential way to observationally identify the surviving companion star in SN remnants. Finally, by artificially adjusting the explosion energy of the W7 explosion model, we find that the total accumulation of SN ejecta on the companion surface is also dependent on the explosion energy with a power-law relation to a good approximation

Determination of Nucleosynthetic Yields of Supernovae and Very Massive Stars from Abundances in Metal-Poor Stars

(Abridged) We determine the yields of Na to Ni for Type II supernovae (SNe II) and the yield patterns of the same elements for Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) and very massive (>100 M_sun) stars (VMS) using a phenomenological model of stellar nucleosynthesis and the data on a number of stars with -4<[Fe/H]<-3, a single star with [Fe/H]=-2.04, and the sun. We consider that there are two distinct kinds of SNe II: the high-frequency SNe II(H) and the low-frequency SNe II(L). We also consider that VMS were the dominant first-generation stars formed from big bang debris. The yield patterns of Na to Ni for SNe II(H), II(L), and Ia and VMS appear to be well defined. It is found that SNe II(H) produce almost none of these elements, that SNe II(L) can account for the entire solar inventory of Na, Mg, Si, Ca, Ti, and V, and that compared with SNe II(L), VMS underproduce Na, Al, V, Cr, and Mn, overproduce Co, but otherwise have an almost identical yield pattern. A comparison is made between the yield patterns determined here from the observational data and those from ab initio models of nucleosynthesis in SNe II and VMS. The evolution of the other elements relative to Fe is shown to involve three distinct stages, the earliest of which is directly related to the problems of early aggregation and dispersion of baryonic matter. It is argued that the VMS contributions should represent the typical composition of dispersed baryonic matter in the universe.Comment: 33 pages, 14 postscript figures, to appear in Ap

Discovery of the progenitor of the type Ia supernova 2007on

Type Ia supernovae are exploding stars that are used to measure the accelerated expansion of the Universe and are responsible for most of the iron ever produced. Although there is general agreement that the exploding star is a white dwarf in a binary system, the exact configuration and trigger of the explosion is unclear, which could hamper their use for precision cosmology. Two families of progenitor models have been proposed. In the first, a white dwarf accretes material from a companion until it exceeds the Chandrasekhar mass, collapses and explodes. Alternatively, two white dwarfs merge, again causing catastrophic collapse and an explosion. It has hitherto been impossible to determine if either model is correct. Here we report the discovery of an object in pre-supernova archival X-ray images at the position of the recent type Ia supernova (2007on) in the elliptical galaxy NGC 1404. Deep optical images (also archival) show no sign of this object. From this we conclude that the X-ray source is the progenitor of the supernova, which favours the accretion model for this supernova, although the host galaxy is older (6-9 Gyr) than the age at which the explosions are predicted in the accreting models.Comment: Published in Nature See also the two follow-up papers: Roelofs, Bassa, Voss, Nelemans Nelemans, Voss, Roelofs, Bassa both on astro-ph 02/15/0

WD + MS systems as the progenitor of SNe Ia

We show the initial and final parameter space for SNe Ia in a ($\log P^{\rm i}, M_{\rm 2}^{\rm i}$) plane and find that the positions of some famous recurrent novae, as well as a supersoft X-ray source (SSS), RX J0513.9-6951, are well explained by our model. The model can also explain the space velocity and mass of Tycho G, which is now suggested to be the companion star of Tycho's supernova. Our study indicates that the SSS, V Sge, might be the potential progenitor of supernovae like SN 2002ic if the delayed dynamical-instability model due to Han & Podsiadlowski (2006) is appropriate. Following the work of Meng, Chen & Han (2009), we found that the SD model (WD + MS) with an optically thick wind can explain the birth rate of supernovae like SN 2006X and reproduce the distribution of the color excess of SNe Ia. The model also predicts that at least 75% of all SNe Ia may show a polarization signal in their spectra.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in Astrophysics & Space Science (Proceeding of the 4th Meeting on Hot Subdwarf Stars and Related Objects, edited by Zhanwen Han, Simon Jeffery & Philipp Podsiadlowski

Magnetically-driven explosions of rapidly-rotating white dwarfs following Accretion-Induced Collapse

We present 2D multi-group flux-limited diffusion magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) simulations of the Accretion-Induced Collapse (AIC) of a rapidly-rotating white dwarf. We focus on the dynamical role of MHD processes after the formation of a millisecond-period protoneutron star. We find that including magnetic fields and stresses can lead to a powerful explosion with an energy of a few Bethe, rather than a weak one of at most 0.1 Bethe, with an associated ejecta mass of ~0.1Msun, instead of a few 0.001Msun. The core is spun down by ~30% within 500ms after bounce, and the rotational energy extracted from the core is channeled into magnetic energy that generates a strong magnetically-driven wind, rather than a weak neutrino-driven wind. Baryon loading of the ejecta, while this wind prevails, precludes it from becoming relativistic. This suggests that a GRB is not expected to emerge from such AICs during the early protoneutron star phase, except in the unlikely event that the massive white dwarf has sufficient mass to lead to black hole formation. In addition, we predict both negligible 56Ni-production (that should result in an optically-dark, adiabatically-cooled explosion) and the ejection of 0.1Msun of material with an electron fraction of 0.1-0.2. Such pollution by neutron-rich nuclei puts strong constraints on the possible rate of such AICs. Moreover, being free from ``fallback,'' such highly-magnetized millisecond-period protoneutron stars may later become magnetars, and the magnetically-driven winds may later transition to Poynting-flux-dominated, relativistic winds, eventually detectable as GRBs at cosmological distances. However, the low expected event rate of AICs will constrain them to be, at best, a small subset of GRB and/or magnetar progenitors.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures, paper accepted to ApJ; High resolution version available at http://hermes.as.arizona.edu/~luc/aic_mhd/aic_mhd.htm

The Extinction Properties of and Distance to the Highly Reddened Type Ia Supernova SN 2012cu

Correction of Type Ia Supernova brightnesses for extinction by dust has proven to be a vexing problem. Here we study the dust foreground to the highly reddened SN 2012cu, which is projected onto a dust lane in the galaxy NGC 4772. The analysis is based on multi-epoch, spectrophotometric observations spanning 3,300 - 9,200 {\AA}, obtained by the Nearby Supernova Factory. Phase-matched comparison of the spectroscopically twinned SN 2012cu and SN 2011fe across 10 epochs results in the best-fit color excess of (E(B-V), RMS) = (1.00, 0.03) and total-to-selective extinction ratio of (RV , RMS) = (2.95, 0.08) toward SN 2012cu within its host galaxy. We further identify several diffuse interstellar bands, and compare the 5780 {\AA} band with the dust-to-band ratio for the Milky Way. Overall, we find the foreground dust-extinction properties for SN 2012cu to be consistent with those of the Milky Way. Furthermore we find no evidence for significant time variation in any of these extinction tracers. We also compare the dust extinction curve models of Cardelli et al. (1989), O'Donnell (1994), and Fitzpatrick (1999), and find the predictions of Fitzpatrick (1999) fit SN 2012cu the best. Finally, the distance to NGC4772, the host of SN 2012cu, at a redshift of z = 0.0035, often assigned to the Virgo Southern Extension, is determined to be 16.6$\pm$1.1 Mpc. We compare this result with distance measurements in the literature.Comment: 48 pages, 13 figures. Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal. The spectral time series data presented in this article can be found at http://snfactory.lbl.gov/snf/data

Radial stability analysis of the continuous pressure gravastar

Radial stability of the continuous pressure gravastar is studied using the conventional Chandrasekhar method. The equation of state for the static gravastar solutions is derived and Einstein equations for small perturbations around the equilibrium are solved as an eigenvalue problem for radial pulsations. Within the model there exist a set of parameters leading to a stable fundamental mode, thus proving radial stability of the continuous pressure gravastar. It is also shown that the central energy density possesses an extremum in rho_c(R) curve which represents a splitting point between stable and unstable gravastar configurations. As such the rho_c(R) curve for the gravastar mimics the famous M(R) curve for a polytrope. Together with the former axial stability calculations this work completes the stability problem of the continuous pressure gravastar.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures, References corrected, minor changes wrt v1, matches published versio

OGLE-2013-SN-079: A LONELY SUPERNOVA CONSISTENT WITH A HELIUM SHELL DETONATION

We present observational data for a peculiar supernova discovered by the OGLE-IV survey and followed by the Public ESO Spectroscopic Survey for Transient Objects. The inferred redshift of z = 0.07 implies an absolute magnitude in the rest-frame I-band of MI ~ –17.6 mag. This places it in the luminosity range between normal Type Ia SNe and novae. Optical and near infrared spectroscopy reveal mostly Ti and Ca lines, and an unusually red color arising from strong depression of flux at rest wavelengths <5000 Å. To date, this is the only reported SN showing Ti-dominated spectra. The data are broadly consistent with existing models for the pure detonation of a helium shell around a low-mass CO white dwarf and "double-detonation" models that include a secondary detonation of a CO core following a primary detonation in an overlying helium shell