77 research outputs found
Supernova Classes and Subclasses
The discovery of many objects with unprecedented, amazing observational
characteristics caused the last decade to be the most prolific period for the
supernova research. Many of these new supernovae are transitional objects
between existing classes, others well enter within the defined classes, but
still show unique properties. This makes the traditional classification scheme
inadequate to take into account the overall SN variety and, consequently,
requires the introduction of new subclasses.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure, review for "Supernova 1987A: 20 Years After:
Supernovae and Gamma-Ray Bursters" AIP, New York, eds. S. Immler, K.W.
Weiler, and R. McCra
Signatures of an eruptive phase before the explosion of the peculiar core-collapse SN 2013gc
We present photometric and spectroscopic analysis of the peculiar
core-collapse SN 2013gc, spanning seven years of observations. The light curve
shows an early maximum followed by a fast decline and a phase of almost
constant luminosity. At +200 days from maximum, a brightening of 1 mag is
observed in all bands, followed by a steep linear luminosity decline after +300
d. In archival images taken between 1.5 and 2.5 years before the explosion, a
weak source is visible at the supernova location, with mag20. The
early supernova spectra show Balmer lines, with a narrow (560 km
s) P-Cygni absorption superimposed on a broad (3400 km s)
component, typical of type IIn events. Through a comparison of colour curves,
absolute light curves and spectra of SN 2013gc with a sample of supernovae IIn,
we conclude that SN 2013gc is a member of the so-called type IId subgroup. The
complex profile of the H line suggests a composite circumstellar medium
geometry, with a combination of lower velocity, spherically symmetric gas and a
more rapidly expanding bilobed feature. This circumstellar medium distribution
has been likely formed through major mass-loss events, that we directly
observed from 3 years before the explosion. The modest luminosity
( near maximum) of SN 2013gc at all phases, the very small amount
of ejected Ni (of the order of M), the major
pre-supernova stellar activity and the lack of prominent [O I] lines in
late-time spectra support a fall-back core-collapse scenario for the massive
progenitor of SN~2013gc.Comment: 20 pages, 11 figures, 8 tables, accepted by MNRA
The spectacular evolution of Supernova 1996al over 15 years: a low energy explosion of a stripped massive star in a highly structured environment
Spectrophotometry of SN 1996al carried out throughout 15 years is presented.
The early photometry suggests that SN 1996al is a Linear type-II supernova,
with an absolute peak of Mv ~ -18.2 mag. Early spectra present broad,
asymmetric Balmer emissions, with super-imposed narrow lines with P-Cygni
profile, and He I features with asymmetric, broad emission components. The
analysis of the line profiles shows that the H and He broad components form in
the same region of the ejecta. By day +142, the Halpha profile dramatically
changes: the narrow P-Cygni profile disappears, and the Halpha is fitted by
three emission components, that will be detected over the remaining 15 yrs of
the SN monitoring campaign. Instead, the He I emissions become progressively
narrower and symmetric. A sudden increase in flux of all He I lines is observed
between 300 and 600 days. Models show that the supernova luminosity is
sustained by the interaction of low mass (~1.15 Msun) ejecta, expelled in a low
kinetic energy (~ 1.6 x 10^50 erg) explosion, with highly asymmetric
circumstellar medium. The detection of Halpha emission in pre-explosion archive
images suggests that the progenitor was most likely a massive star (~25 Msun
ZAMS) that had lost a large fraction of its hydrogen envelope before explosion,
and was hence embedded in a H-rich cocoon. The low-mass ejecta and modest
kinetic energy of the explosion are explained with massive fallback of material
into the compact remnant, a 7-8 Msun black hole.Comment: 27 pages, 23 figures, Accepted for publication in MNRA
The birth place of the type Ic Supernova 2007gr
We report our attempts to locate the progenitor of the peculiar type Ic SN
2007gr in HST pre-explosion images of the host galaxy, NGC 1058. Aligning
adaptive optics Altair/NIRI imaging of SN 2007gr from the Gemini (North)
Telescope with the pre-explosion HST WFPC2 images, we identify the SN position
on the HST frames with an accuracy of 20 mas. Although nothing is detected at
the SN position we show that it lies on the edge of a bright source, 134+/-23
mas (6.9 pc) from its nominal centre. Based on its luminosity we suggest that
this object is possibly an unresolved, compact and coeval cluster and that the
SN progenitor was a cluster member, although we note that model profile fitting
favours a single bright star. We find two solutions for the age of this assumed
cluster; 7-/+0.5 Myrs and 20-30 Myrs, with turn-off masses of 28+/-4 Msun and
12-9 Msun respectively. Pre-explosion ground-based K-band images marginally
favour the younger cluster age/higher turn-off mass. Assuming the SN progenitor
was a cluster member, the turn-off mass provides the best estimate for its
initial mass. More detailed observations, after the SN has faded, should
determine if the progenitor was indeed part of a cluster, and if so allow an
age estimate to within ~2 Myrs thereby favouring either a high mass single star
or lower mass interacting binary progenitor.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, resolution of fig 1. has been reduced, some
revision based on referee's comments, Accepted ApJL 27 Nov 200
SN 2013ab : A normal type IIP supernova in NGC 5669
We present densely-sampled ultraviolet/optical photometric and low-resolution
optical spectroscopic observations of the type IIP supernova 2013ab in the
nearby (24 Mpc) galaxy NGC 5669, from 2 to 190d after explosion.
Continuous photometric observations, with the cadence of typically a day to one
week, were acquired with the 1-2m class telescopes in the LCOGT network, ARIES
telescopes in India and various other telescopes around the globe. The light
curve and spectra suggest that the SN is a normal type IIP event with a plateau
duration of days with mid plateau absolute visual magnitude of
-16.7, although with a steeper decline during the plateau (0.92 mag 100 d in band) relative to other archetypal SNe of similar brightness.
The velocity profile of SN 2013ab shows striking resemblance with those of SNe
1999em and 2012aw. Following the Rabinak & Waxman (2011) prescription, the
initial temperature evolution of the SN emission allows us to estimate the
progenitor radius to be 800 R, indicating that the SN
originated from a red supergiant star. The distance to the SN host galaxy is
estimated to be 24.3 Mpc from expanding photosphere method (EPM). From our
observations, we estimate that 0.064 M of Ni was synthesized
in the explosion. General relativistic, radiation hydrodynamical modeling of
the SN infers an explosion energy of erg, a progenitor
mass (at the time of explosion) of M and an initial radius
of R.Comment: 22 pages, 18 figures, 5 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRA
Comparison of Direct Oral Anticoagulant Use for the Treatment of Non-Valvular Atrial Fibrillation in Pivotal Clinical Trials vs. the Real-World Setting: A Population-Based Study from Southern Italy
Patients enrolled into pivotal randomized controlled trials (RCTs) may differ substantially from those treated in a real-world (RW) setting, which may result in a different benefit\u2013risk profile. The aim of the study was to assess the external validity of pivotal RCT findings concerning direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) for the treatment of nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) by comparing patients recruited in RCTs to those treated with DOACs registered in a southern Italian local health unit (LHU) in the years 2013\u20132017. The Palermo LHU claims database was used to describe the baseline characteristics of incident DOAC users (washout > 1 year) with NVAF compared with those of enrolled patients in DOAC pivotal RCTs. In the RW, DOAC treatment discontinuation was calculated during the follow-up and compared with DOAC treatment discontinuation of enrolled patients in DOAC pivotal RCTs. Rates of effectiveness and safety outcomes during the follow-up were calculated in an unmatched and in a simulated RCT population, by matching individual incidental RW and RCT DOAC users (excluding edoxaban users) on age, sex, and CHADS2 score. Overall, 42,336 and 7092 incident DOAC users with NVAF were identified from pivotal RCTs and from the RW setting, respectively. In RCTs, DOAC use was more common among males (62.6%) compared with an almost equal sex distribution in the RW. RCT patients were younger (mean age \ub1 standard deviation: 70.7 \ub1 9.2 years) than RW patients (76.0 \ub1 8.6 years). Compared with RCTs, a higher proportion of RW dabigatran users (30.4% vs. 19.6%) and a lower proportion of RW apixaban (15.9% vs. 25.3%) and rivaroxaban (20.4% vs. 23.7%) users discontinued the treatment during the follow-up (p-value < 0.001). The rate of ischemic stroke was lower in RW high-dose dabigatran users (unmatched/-matched population: 0.40\u20130.11% per year) than in the Randomized Evaluation of Long- Term Anticoagulation Therapy (RE-LY) population (0.93% per year). Major bleeding rates were lower in RW users than in RCT users. In conclusion, except for dabigatran, a lower proportion of DOAC discontinuers was observed in the real-world than in pivotal RCT settings. This study provides reassurance to practicing physicians that DOAC use appears to be effective in stroke prevention and is likely safer in RW patients than in RCT enrolled patients. These results may be related to a lower burden of comorbidities despite more advanced age in the RW population compared to the pivotal RCT population
Radiation-hydrodynamical modelling of underluminous Type II plateau supernovae
With the aim of improving our knowledge about the nature of the progenitors of low-luminosity Type II plateau supernovae (LL SNe IIP), we made radiation-hydrodynamical models of the well-sampled LL SNe IIP 2003Z, 2008bk and 2009md. For these three SNe, we infer explosion energies of 0.16-0.18 foe, radii at explosion of 1.8-3.5 × 1013 cm and ejected masses of 10-11.3 M☉. The estimated progenitor mass on the main sequence is in the range ∼13.2-15.1 M☉ for SN 2003Z and ∼11.4-12.9 M☉ for SNe 2008bk and 2009md, in agreement with estimates from observations of the progenitors. These results together with those for other LL SNe IIP modelled in the same way enable us also to conduct a comparative study on this SN sub-group. The results suggest that (a) the progenitors of faint SNe IIP are slightly less massive and have less energetic explosions than those of intermediate-luminosity SNe IIP; (b) both faint and intermediate-luminosity SNe IIP originate from low-energy explosions of red (or yellow) supergiant stars of low to intermediate mass; (c) some faint objects may also be explained as electron-capture SNe from massive super-asymptotic giant branch stars; and (d) LL SNe IIP form the underluminous tail of the SNe IIP family, where the main parameter `guiding' the distribution seems to be the ratio of the total explosion energy to the ejected mass. Further hydrodynamical studies should be performed and compared to a more extended sample of LL SNe IIP before drawing any conclusion on the relevance of fall-back to this class of events
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