Electron-capture supernovae exploding within their progenitor wind

The most massive stars on the asymptotic giant branch (AGB), so called super-AGB stars, are thought to produce supernovae (SNe) triggered by electron captures in their degenerate O+Ne+Mg cores. Super-AGB stars are expected to have slow winds with high mass-loss rates, so their wind density is high. The explosions of super-AGB stars are therefore presumed to occur in this dense wind. We provide the first synthetic light curves (LCs) for such events by exploding realistic electron-capture supernova (ecSN) progenitors within their super-AGB winds. We find that the early LC, i.e. before the recombination wave reaches the bottom of the H-rich envelope of SN ejecta (the plateau phase), is not affected by the dense wind. However, after the plateau phase, the luminosity remains higher when the super-AGB wind is taken into account. We compare our results to the historical LC of SN 1054, the progenitor of the Crab Nebula, and show that the explosion of an ecSN within an ordinary super-AGB wind can explain the LC features. We conclude that SN 1054 could have been a Type IIn SN without any extra extreme mass loss which was previously suggested to be necessary to account for its early high luminosity. We also show that our LCs match Type IIn SNe with an early plateau phase (`Type IIn-P') and suggest that they are ecSNe within super-AGB winds. Although some ecSNe can be bright in the optical spectral range due to the large progenitor radius, their X-ray luminosity from the interaction does not necessarily get as bright as other Type IIn SNe whose optical luminosities are also powered by the interaction. Thus, we suggest that optically-bright X-ray-faint Type IIn SNe can emerge from ecSNe. Optically-faint Type IIn SNe, such as SN 2008S, can also originate from ecSNe if their H-rich envelope masses are small. Some of them can be observed as `Type IIn-b' SNe due to the small H-rich envelope mass.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, accepted by Astronomy & Astrophysics, abstract abridge

On the Light Curve and Spectrum of SN 2003dh Separated from the Optical Afterglow of GRB 030329

The net optical light curves and spectra of the supernova (SN) 2003dh are obtained from the published spectra of GRB 030329, covering about 6 days before SN maximum to about 60 days after. The bulk of the U-band flux is subtracted from the observed spectra using early-time afterglow templates, because strong line blanketing greatly depresses the UV and U-band SN flux in a metal-rich, fast-moving SN atmosphere. The blue-end spectra of the gamma-ray burst (GRB)connected hypernova SN 1998bw is used to determine the amount of subtraction. The subtraction of a host galaxy template affects the late-time results. The derived SN 2003dh light curves are narrower than those of SN 1998bw, rising as fast before maximum, reaching a possibly fainter maximum, and then declining ~ 1.2-1.4 times faster. We then build UVOIR bolometric SN light curve. Allowing for uncertainties, it can be reproduced with a spherical ejecta model of Mej ~ 7+/-3 Msun, KE ~ (3.5+/-1.5)E52 ergs, with KE/Mej ~ 5 following previous spectrum modelling, and M(Ni56) ~ (0.4 +0.15/-0.1) Msun. This suggests a progenitor main-sequence mass of about 25-40 Msun, lower than SN 1998bw but significantly higher than normal Type Ic SNe and the GRB-unrelated hypernova SN 2002ap.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures, published by Ap

Euclid detectability of pair instability supernovae in binary population synthesis models consistent with merging binary black holes

We infer the expected detection number of pair instability supernovae (PISNe) during the operation of the Euclid space telescope, based on two binary population models that are consistent with binary black holes (BHs) observed by gravitational waves. The two models consider different PISN criteria depending on the $^{12}$C$(\alpha, \gamma)^{16}$O reaction rate. The fiducial and $3\sigma$ models adopt the standard and $3\sigma$-smaller $^{12}$C$(\alpha, \gamma)^{16}$O reaction rate, which predicts that stars with helium core masses $65-135 M_\odot$ and $90-180 M_\odot$ cause PISNe, respectively. Our fiducial model predicts that Euclid detects several Type I or hydrogen-poor PISNe. For the $3\sigma$ model, detection of $\sim 1$ Type I PISN by Euclid is expected if the stellar mass distribution extends to $M_{\max} \sim 600 M_\odot$, but the expected number becomes significantly smaller if $M_{\max} \sim 300 M_\odot$. Thus, we may be able to prove or distinguish the fiducial and $3\sigma$ models by the observed PISN rate. This will help us to constrain the origin of binary BHs and the $^{12}$C$(\alpha, \gamma)^{16}$O reaction rate. PISN ejecta mass estimates from light curves and spectra obtained by follow-up observations would also be important to constrain the $^{12}$C$(\alpha, \gamma)^{16}$O reaction rate.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitte

The Nucleosynthetic Imprint of 15-40 Solar Mass Primordial Supernovae on Metal-Poor Stars

The inclusion of rotationally-induced mixing in stellar evolution can alter the structure and composition of presupernova stars. We survey the effects of progenitor rotation on nucleosynthetic yields in Population III and II supernovae using the new adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) code CASTRO. We examine spherical explosions in 15, 25 and 40 solar mass stars at Z = 0 and 10^-4 solar metallicity with three explosion energies and two rotation rates. Rotation in the Z = 0 models resulted in primary nitrogen production and a stronger hydrogen burning shell which led all models to die as red supergiants. On the other hand, the Z=10^-4 solar metallicity models that included rotation ended their lives as compact blue stars. Because of their extended structure, the hydrodynamics favors more mixing and less fallback in the metal free stars than the Z = 10^-4 models. As expected, higher energy explosions produce more enrichment and less fallback than do lower energy explosions, and less massive stars produce more enrichment and leave behind smaller remnants than do more massive stars. We compare our nucleosynthetic yields to the chemical abundances in the three most iron-poor stars yet found and reproduce the abundance pattern of one, HE 0557-4840, with a zero metallicity 15 solar mass, 2.4 x 10^51 erg supernova. A Salpeter IMF averaged integration of our yields for Z=0 models with explosion energies of 2.4x10^51 ergs or less is in good agreement with the abundances observed in larger samples of extremely metal-poor stars, provided 15 solar mass stars are included. Since the abundance patterns of extremely metal-poor stars likely arise from a representative sample of progenitors, our yields suggest that low-mass supernovae contributed the bulk of the metals to the early universe.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figures; submitted to Ap

Dynamical Susceptibility in KDP-type Crysals above and below Tc II

The path probability method (PPM) in the tetrahedron-cactus approximation is applied to the Slater-Takagi model with dipole-dipole interaction for KH2PO4-type hydrogen-bonded ferroelectric crystals in order to derive a small dip structure in the real part of dynamical susceptibility observed at the transition temperature Tc. The dip structure can be ascribed to finite relaxation times of electric dipole moments responsible for the first order transition with contrast to the critical slowing down in the second order transition. The light scattering intensity which is related to the imaginary part of dynamical susceptibility is also calculated above and below the transition temperature and the obtained central peak structure is consistent with polarization fluctuation modes in Raman scattering experiments.Comment: 8 pages, 11 figure