Photometric and spectroscopic evolution of the IIP SN 2007it to day 944

SN 2007it is a bright, Type IIP supernova which shows indications of both pre-existing and newly formed dust. The visible photometry shows a bright late-time luminosity, powered by the 0.09 M ☉ of 56Ni present in the ejecta. There is also a sudden drop in optical brightness after day 339, and a corresponding brightening in the IR due to new dust forming in the ejecta. CO and SiO emission, generally thought to be precursors to dust formation, may have been detected in the mid-IR photometry of SN 2007it. The optical spectra show stronger than average [O I] emission lines and weaker than average [Ca II] lines, which may indicate a 16-27 M ☉ progenitor, on the higher end of expected Type IIP masses. Multi-component [O I] lines are also seen in the optical spectra, most likely caused by an asymmetric blob or a torus of oxygen core material being ejected during the SN explosion. Interaction with circumstellar material prior to day 540 may have created a cool dense shell between the forward and reverse shocks where new dust is condensing. At late times there is also a flattening of the visible light curve as the ejecta luminosity fades and a surrounding light echo becomes visible. Radiative transfer models of SN 2007it spectral energy distributions indicate that up to 10–4 M ☉ of new dust has formed in the ejecta, which is consistent with the amount of dust formed in other core-collapse supernovae

Massive-star supernovae as major dust factories

We present late-time optical and mid-infrared observations of the Type II supernova 2003gd in the galaxy NGC 628. Mid-infrared excesses consistent with cooling dust in the ejecta are observed 499 to 678 days after outburst and are accompanied by increasing optical extinction and growing asymmetries in the emission-line profiles. Radiative-transfer models show that up to 0.02 solar masses of dust has formed within the ejecta, beginning as early as 250 days after outburst. These observations show that dust formation in supernova ejecta can be efficient and that massive-star supernovae could have been major dust producers throughout the history of the universe

Echoes from Ancient Supernovae in the Large Magellanic Cloud

In principle, the light from historical supernovae could still be visible as scattered-light echoes even centuries later. However, while echoes have been discovered around some nearby extragalactic supernovae well after the explosion, targeted searches have not recovered any echoes in the regions of historical Galactic supernovae. The discovery of echoes can allow us to pinpoint the supernova event both in position and age and, most importantly, allow us to acquire spectra of the echo light to type the supernova centuries after the direct light from the explosion first reached the Earth. Here we report on the discovery of three faint new variable surface brightness complexes with high apparent proper motion pointing back to well-defined positions in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). These positions correspond to three of the six smallest (and likely youngest) previously catalogued supernova remnants, and are believed to be due to thermonuclear (Type Ia) supernovae. Using the distance and proper motions of these echo arcs, we estimate ages of 610 and 410 yr for the echoes #2 and #3.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, 1 table. PDF format. Note: This paper has been accepted by Nature for publication as a letter. It is embargoed for discussion in the popular press until publication in Natur

Production of dust by massive stars at high redshift

The large amounts of dust detected in sub-millimeter galaxies and quasars at high redshift pose a challenge to galaxy formation models and theories of cosmic dust formation. At z > 6 only stars of relatively high mass (> 3 Msun) are sufficiently short-lived to be potential stellar sources of dust. This review is devoted to identifying and quantifying the most important stellar channels of rapid dust formation. We ascertain the dust production efficiency of stars in the mass range 3-40 Msun using both observed and theoretical dust yields of evolved massive stars and supernovae (SNe) and provide analytical expressions for the dust production efficiencies in various scenarios. We also address the strong sensitivity of the total dust productivity to the initial mass function. From simple considerations, we find that, in the early Universe, high-mass (> 3 Msun) asymptotic giant branch stars can only be dominant dust producers if SNe generate <~ 3 x 10^-3 Msun of dust whereas SNe prevail if they are more efficient. We address the challenges in inferring dust masses and star-formation rates from observations of high-redshift galaxies. We conclude that significant SN dust production at high redshift is likely required to reproduce current dust mass estimates, possibly coupled with rapid dust grain growth in the interstellar medium.Comment: 72 pages, 9 figures, 5 tables; to be published in The Astronomy and Astrophysics Revie

Dust yields in clumpy supernova shells: SN 1987A revisited

We present a study of the effects of clumping on the emergent spectral energy distribution (SED) from dusty supernova (SN) shells illuminated by a diffuse radiation source distributed throughout the medium. These models are appropriate for Type II SNe older than a few hundred days, when the energy input is dominated by γ-rays from 56Co decay. The fully 3D radiation transport problem is solved using a Monte Carlo code, MOCASSIN, and we present a set of models aimed at investigating the sensitivity of the SEDs to various clumping parameters. We find that, contrary to the predictions of analytical prescriptions, the combination of an optical and infrared (IR) observational data set is sufficient to constrain dust masses even in the case where optically thick clumps are present. Using both smoothly varying and clumped grain density distributions, we obtain new estimates for the mass of dust condensed by the Type II SN 1987A by fitting the optical and IR spectrophotometric data of Wooden et al. at two epochs (day 615 and day 775). When using amorphous carbon grains, our best fits to the observational data imply that about 2.0 × 10−4 M⊙ of dust had condensed in the envelope of SN 1987A by day 615 and between 2.0 × 10−4 and 4.2 × 10−3 M⊙ by day 775. We find that the absence of a silicate emission or absorption feature in the observed mid-IR spectra implies that no more than 15 per cent of the dust formed around SN 1987A can have been in the form of silicate particles. Our models require larger dust masses for the case of graphite grains, namely between 4.2 × 10−4 and 6.6 × 10−4 M⊙ at day 615 and between 4.5 × 10−4 and 7.5 × 10−4 M⊙ at day 775. From our numerical models, we derive dust masses for SN 1987A that are comparable to previous analytic clumped graphite grain mass estimates, and at least two orders of magnitude below the 0.1–0.3 M⊙ that have been predicted to condense as dust grains in primordial core-collapse SN ejecta. This low condensation efficiency for SN 1987A is in contrast to the case of SN 2003gd, for which a dust condensation efficiency as large as 0.12 has recently been estimated

OPTICAL AND INFRARED ANALYSIS OF TYPE II SN 2006bc

We present nebular phase optical imaging and spectroscopy and near/mid-IR imaging of the Type II SN 2006bc. Observations reveal the central wavelength of the symmetric Hα line profile to be redshifted with respect to the host galaxy Hα emission by day 325. Such a phenomenon has been argued to result from an asymmetric explosion in the iron-peak elements resulting in a larger mass of 56Ni and higher excitation of hydrogen on the far side of the supernova (SN) explosion. We also observe a gradual blueshifting of this Hα peak which is indicative of dust formation in the ejecta. Although showing a normal peak brightness, V ~ –17.2, for a core-collapse SN, 2006bc fades by ~6 mag during the first 400 days suggesting either a relatively low 56Ni yield, an increase in extinction due to new dust, or both. A short-duration flattening of the light curve is observed from day 416 to day 541 suggesting an optical light echo. Based on the narrow time window of this echo, we discuss implications on the location and geometry of the reflecting interstellar medium. With our radiative transfer models, we find an upper limit of 2 × 10–3 M ☉ of dust around SN 2006bc. In the event that all of this dust were formed during the SN explosion, this quantity of dust is still several orders of magnitude lower than that needed to explain the large quantities of dust observed in the early univer

The destruction and survival of dust in the shell around SN 2008S

SN 2008S erupted in early 2008 in the grand design spiral galaxy NGC 6946. The progenitor was detected by Prieto et al. in Spitzer Space Telescope images taken over the four years prior to the explosion, but was not detected in deep optical images, from which they inferred a self-obscured object with a mass of about 10 M⊙. We obtained Spitzer observations of SN 2008S 5 days after its discovery, as well as coordinated Gemini and Spitzer optical and infrared observations 6 months after its outburst. We have constructed radiative transfer dust models for the object before and after the outburst, using the same r−2 density distribution of pre-existing amorphous carbon grains for all epochs and taking light travel time effects into account. We rule out silicate grains as a significant component of the dust around SN 2008S. The inner radius of the dust shell moved outwards from its pre-outburst value of 85 au to a post-outburst value of 1250 au, attributable to grain vaporization by the light flash from SN 2008S. Although this caused the circumstellar extinction to decrease from AV= 15 before the outburst to 0.8 after the outburst, we estimate that less than 2 per cent of the overall circumstellar dust mass was destroyed. The total mass-loss rate from the progenitor star is estimated to have been 0.5–1.0 × 10−4 M⊙ yr−1. The derived dust-mass-loss rate of 5 × 10−7 M⊙ yr−1 implies a total dust injection into the interstellar medium of up to 0.01 M⊙ over the suggested duration of the self-obscured phase. We consider the potential contribution of objects like SN 2008S to the dust enrichment of galaxies

SN 2007od: A Type IIP Supernova with Circumstellar Interaction

SN 2007od exhibits characteristics that have rarely been seen in a Type IIP supernova (SN). Optical V-band photometry reveals a very steep brightness decline between the plateau and nebular phases of ~4.5 mag, likely due to SN 2007od containing a low mass of 56Ni. The optical spectra show an evolution from normal Type IIP with broad Hα emission, to a complex, four-component Hα emission profile exhibiting asymmetries caused by dust extinction after day 232. This is similar to the spectral evolution of the Type IIn SN 1998S, although no early-time narrow (~200 km s–1) Hα component was present in SN 2007od. In both SNe, the intermediate-width Hα emission components are thought to arise in the interaction between the ejecta and its circumstellar medium (CSM). SN 2007od also shows a mid-infrared excess due to new dust. The evolution of the Hα profile and the presence of the mid-IR excess provide strong evidence that SN 2007od formed new dust before day 232. Late-time observations reveal a flattening of the visible light curve. This flattening is a strong indication of the presence of a light echo, which likely accounts for much of the broad, underlying Hα component seen at late times. We believe that the multi-peaked Hα emission is consistent with the interaction of the ejecta with a circumstellar ring or torus (for the inner components at ±1500 km s–1) and a single blob or cloud of circumstellar material out of the plane of the CSM ring (for the outer component at –5000 km s–1). The most probable location for the formation of new dust is in the cool dense shell created by the interaction between the expanding ejecta and its CSM. Monte Carlo radiative transfer modeling of the dust emission from SN 2007od implies that up to ~4 × 10–4 M ☉ of new dust has formed. This is similar to the amounts of dust formed in other core-collapse supernovae such as SNe 1999em, 2004et, and 2006jc