No Arabic abstract
We study a sample of 16 Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) having both spectroscopic and photometric observations within 2 $-$ 3 days after the first light. The early $B-V$ colors of such a sample tends to show a continuous distribution. For objects with normal ejecta velocity (NV), the C~II $lambda$6580 feature is always visible in the early spectra while it is absent or very weak in the high-velocity (HV) counterpart. Moreover, the velocities of the detached high-velocity features (HVFs) of Ca~II NIR triplet (CaIR3) above the photosphere are found to be much higher in HV objects than in NV objects, with typical values exceeding 30,000 km~s$^{-1}$ at 2 $-$ 3 days. We further analyze the relation between %velocities of Si~II~$lambda$6355 at maximum, $v_{rm Si,max}$, the velocity shift of late-time [Fe~II] lines ($v_{rm [Fe~II]}$) and host galaxy mass. We find that all HV objects have redshifted $v_{rm [Fe~II]}$ while NV objects have both blue- and redshifted $v_{rm [Fe~II]}$. It is interesting to point out that the objects with redshifted $v_{rm [Fe~II]}$ are all located in massive galaxies, implying that HV and a portion of NV objects may have similar progenitor metallicities and explosion mechanisms. We propose that, with a geometric/projected effect, the He-detonation model may account for the similarity in birthplace environment and the differences seen in some SNe Ia, including $B-V$ colors, C~II feature, CaIR3 HVFs at early time and $v_{rm [Fe~II]}$ in the nebular phase. Nevertheless, some features predicted by He-detonation simulation, such as the rapidly decreasing light curve, deviate from the observations, and some NV objects with blueshifted nebular $v_{rm [Fe~II]}$ may involve other explosion mechanisms.
Hydrodynamical simulations predict that a large amount of hydrogen (>0.1 solar masses) is removed from a hydrogen-rich companion star by the SN explosion in the single-degenerate scenario of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia). However, non-detection of hydrogen-rich material in the late-time spectra of SNe Ia suggests that the hydrogen mass stripped from the progenitor system is <0.001-0.058 solar masses. In this letter we include thermohaline mixing into self-consistent binary evolution calculations for the helium-enriched main-sequence (HEMS) donor channel of SNe Ia for the first time. We find that the swept-up hydrogen masses expected in this channel are around 0.10-0.17 solar masses, which is higher than the observational limits, although the companion star is strongly helium-enriched when the SN explodes. This presents a serious challenge to the HEMS donor channel.
The double-detonation explosion model has been considered a candidate for explaining astrophysical transients with a wide range of luminosities. In this model, a carbon-oxygen white dwarf star explodes following detonation of a surface layer of helium. One potential signature of this explosion mechanism is the presence of unburned helium in the outer ejecta, left over from the surface helium layer. In this paper we present simple approximations to estimate the optical depths of important He I lines in the ejecta of double-detonation models. We use these approximations to compute synthetic spectra, including the He I lines, for double-detonation models obtained from hydrodynamical explosion simulations. Specifically, we focus on photospheric-phase predictions for the near-infrared 10830 AA~and 2 $mu$m lines of He I. We first consider a double detonation model with a luminosity corresponding roughly to normal SNe Ia. This model has a post-explosion unburned He mass of 0.03 $M_{odot}$ and our calculations suggest that the 2 $mu$m feature is expected to be very weak but that the 10830 AA~feature may have modest opacity in the outer ejecta. Consequently, we suggest that a moderate-to-weak He I 10830 AA~feature may be expected to form in double-detonation explosions at epochs around maximum light. However, the high velocities of unburned helium predicted by the model ($sim 19,000$~km~s$^{-1}$) mean that the He I 10830 AA~feature may be confused or blended with the C I 10690~AA~line forming at lower velocities. We also present calculations for the He I 10830 AA~and 2 $mu$m lines for a lower mass (low luminosity) double detonation model, which has a post-explosion He mass of 0.077 $M_{odot}$. In this case, both the He I features we consider are strong and can provide a clear observational signature of the double-detonation mechanism.
We present 2603 spectra of 462 nearby Type Ia supernovae (SN Ia) obtained during 1993-2008 through the Center for Astrophysics Supernova Program. Most of the spectra were obtained with the FAST spectrograph at the FLWO 1.5m telescope and reduced in a consistent manner, making data set well suited for studies of SN Ia spectroscopic diversity. We study the spectroscopic and photometric properties of SN Ia as a function of spectroscopic class using the classification schemes of Branch et al. and Wang et al. The width-luminosity relation appears to be steeper for SN Ia with broader lines. Based on the evolution of the characteristic Si II 6355 line, we propose improved methods for measuring velocity gradients, revealing a larger range than previously suspected, from ~0 to ~400 km/s/day considering the instantaneous velocity decline rate at maximum light. We find a weaker and less significant correlation between Si II velocity and intrinsic B-V color at maximum light than reported by Foley et al., owing to a more comprehensive treatment of uncertainties and host galaxy dust. We study the extent of nuclear burning and report new detections of C II 6580 in 23 early-time spectra. The frequency of C II detections is not higher in SN Ia with bluer colors or narrower light curves, in conflict with the recent results of Thomas et al. Based on nebular spectra of 27 SN Ia, we find no relation between the FWHM of the iron emission feature at ~4700 A and Dm15(B) after removing the two low-luminosity SN 1986G and SN 1991bg, suggesting that the peak luminosity is not strongly dependent on the kinetic energy of the explosion for most SN Ia. Finally, we confirm the correlation of velocity shifts in some nebular lines with the intrinsic B-V color of SN Ia at maximum light, although several outliers suggest a possible non-monotonic behavior for the largest blueshifts.
The detonation of a helium shell on top of a carbon-oxygen white dwarf has been argued as a potential explosion mechanism for type Ia supernovae (SNe~Ia). The ash produced during helium shell burning can lead to light curves and spectra that are inconsistent with normal SNe~Ia, but may be viable for some objects showing a light curve bump within the days following explosion. We present a series of radiative transfer models designed to mimic predictions from double detonation explosion models. We consider a range of core and shell masses, and systematically explore multiple post-explosion compositions for the helium shell. We find that a variety of luminosities and timescales for early light curve bumps result from those models with shells containing $^{56}$Ni, $^{52}$Fe, or $^{48}$Cr. Comparing our models to SNe~Ia with light curve bumps, we find that these models can reproduce the shapes of almost all of the bumps observed, but only those objects with red colours around maximum light ($B-V gtrsim 1$) are well matched throughout their evolution. Consistent with previous works, we also show that those models in which the shell does not contain iron-group elements provide good agreement with normal SNe~Ia of different luminosities from shortly after explosion up to maximum light. While our models do not amount to positive evidence in favour of the double detonation scenario, we show that provided the helium shell ash does not contain iron-group elements, it may be viable for a wide range of normal SNe~Ia.
Despite the importance of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) for modern astrophysics, their detailed mechanism is still not fully understood. In this contribution, we present recent findings from numerical explosion models in the context of the observed diversity of SNe Ia and we discuss how these models can help to shed light on the explosion mechanism and the progenitor stars of SNe Ia. In addition, we introduce the Heidelberg Supernova Model Archive (HESMA), a new online data base where we provide integrated isotopic abundances and radially averaged ejecta profiles and synthetic observables for a wide range of state-of-the-art explosion models.