No Arabic abstract
The radius and surface composition of an exploding massive star, as well as the explosion energy per unit mass, can be measured using early ultraviolet (UV) observations of core-collapse supernovae (CC SNe). We present the results from a simultaneous GALEX and Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) search for early UV emission from SNe. We analyze five CC SNe for which we obtained $NUV$ measurements before the first ground-based $R$-band detection. We introduce SOPRANOS, a new maximum likelihood fitting tool for models with variable temporal validity windows, and use it to fit the citet{SapirWaxman2017} shock cooling model to the data. We report four Type II SNe with progenitor radii in the range of $R_*approx600-1100R_odot$ and a shock velocity parameter in the range of $v_{s*}approx 2700-6000 ,rm km,s^{-1}$ ($E/Mapprox2-8times10^{50},rm erg/M_odot$) and one type IIb SN with $R_*approx210R_odot$ and $v_{s*}approx11000 rm, km,s^{-1}$ ($E/Mapprox1.8times10^{51},rm erg/M_odot$). Our pilot GALEX/PTF project thus suggests that a dedicated, systematic SN survey in the $NUV$ band, such as the wide-field UV explorer textit{ULTRASAT} mission, is a compelling method to study the properties of SN progenitors and SN energetics.
During the first few days after explosion, Type II supernovae (SNe) are dominated by relatively simple physics. Theoretical predictions regarding early-time SN light curves in the ultraviolet (UV) and optical bands are thus quite robust. We present, for the first time, a sample of $57$ $R$-band Type II SN light curves that are well monitored during their rise, having $>5$ detections during the first 10 days after discovery, and a well-constrained time of explosion to within $1-3$ days. We show that the energy per unit mass ($E/M$) can be deduced to roughly a factor of five by comparing early-time optical data to the model of Rabinak & Waxman (2011), while the progenitor radius cannot be determined based on $R$-band data alone. We find that Type II SN explosion energies span a range of $E/M=(0.2-20)times 10^{51} ; rm{erg/(10 M}_odot$), and have a mean energy per unit mass of $leftlangle E/M rightrangle = 0.85times 10^{51} ; rm{erg/(10 M}_odot$), corrected for Malmquist bias. Assuming a small spread in progenitor masses, this indicates a large intrinsic diversity in explosion energy. Moreover, $E/M$ is positively correlated with the amount of $^{56}rm{Ni}$ produced in the explosion, as predicted by some recent models of core-collapse SNe. We further present several empirical correlations. The peak magnitude is correlated with the decline rate ($Delta m_{15}$), the decline rate is weakly correlated with the rise time, and the rise time is not significantly correlated with the peak magnitude. Faster declining SNe are more luminous and have longer rise times. This limits the possible power sources for such events.
We present the GALEX detection of a UV burst at the time of explosion of an optically normal Type II-P supernova (PS1-13arp) from the Pan-STARRS1 survey at z=0.1665. The temperature and luminosity of the UV burst match the theoretical predictions for shock breakout in a red supergiant, but with a duration a factor of ~50 longer than expected. We compare the $NUV$ light curve of PS1-13arp to previous GALEX detections of Type IIP SNe, and find clear distinctions that indicate that the UV emission is powered by shock breakout, and not by the subsequent cooling envelope emission previously detected in these systems. We interpret the ~ 1 d duration of the UV signal with a shock breakout in the wind of a red supergiant with a pre-explosion mass-loss rate of ~ 10^-3 Msun yr^-1. This mass-loss rate is enough to prolong the duration of the shock breakout signal, but not enough to produce an excess in the optical plateau light curve or narrow emission lines powered by circumstellar interaction. This detection of non-standard, potentially episodic high mass-loss in a RSG SN progenitor has favorable consequences for the prospects of future wide-field UV surveys to detect shock breakout directly in these systems, and provide a sensitive probe of the pre-explosion conditions of SN progenitors.
SN 2016gkg is a nearby Type IIb supernova discovered shortly after explosion. Like several other Type IIb events with early-time data, SN 2016gkg displays a double-peaked light curve, with the first peak associated with the cooling of a low-mass extended progenitor envelope. We present unprecedented intranight-cadence multi-band photometric coverage of the first light-curve peak of SN 2016gkg obtained from the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope network, the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System, the Swift satellite and various amateur-operated telescopes. Fitting these data to analytical shock-cooling models gives a progenitor radius of ~25-140 solar radii with ~2-30 x 10^-2 solar masses of material in the extended envelope (depending on the model and the assumed host-galaxy extinction). Our radius estimates are broadly consistent with values derived independently (in other works) from HST imaging of the progenitor star. However, the shock-cooling model radii are on the lower end of the values indicated by pre-explosion imaging. Hydrodynamical simulations could refine the progenitor parameters deduced from the shock-cooling emission and test the analytical models.
Supernova LSQ13abf was discovered soon after explosion by the La Silla-QUEST Survey and followed by the CSP II at optical and near-IR wavelengths. Our analysis indicates LSQ13abf was discovered within two days of explosion and its first 10 days of evolution reveal a B-band light curve with an abrupt drop in luminosity. Contemporaneously, the V-band light curve exhibits a rise towards a first peak and the r- and i-band light curves show no early peak. The early light-curve evolution of LSQ13abf is reminiscent of the post explosion cooling phase observed in the Type Ib SN 2008D, and the similarity between the two objects extends over weeks. Spectroscopically, LSQ13abf resembles SN 2008D with P Cygni He I features that strengthen over time. Spectral energy distributions are constructed from broad-band photometry, and by fitting black-body (BB) functions a UVOIR light curve is constructed, and the underlying BB-temperature and BB-radius profiles are estimated. Explosion parameters are estimated by simultaneously fitting an Arnett model to the UVOIR light curve and the velocity evolution derived from spectral features, and a post-shock breakout cooling model to the first two epochs of the bolometric evolution. This combined model suggests an explosion energy of 1.3x10$^{51}$ ergs, a relatively high ejecta mass of 5.94 M$_{odot}$, a Ni mass of 0.16 M$_{odot}$, and a progenitor-star radius of 28.0 R$_{odot}$. The ejecta mass suggests the origins of LSQ13abf lie with a >25 M$_{odot}$ ZAMS progenitor and its radius is three and nine times larger than values estimated from the same analysis applied to observations of SNe 2008D and 1999ex, respectively. Alternatively, comparison of hydrodynamical simulations of >20-25 M$_{odot}$ ZAMS progenitors that evolve to pre-SN envelope masses around 10 M$_{odot}$ and extended (~100 R$_{odot}$) envelopes also match the observations of LSQ13abf.
We present the discovery of PTF 10vgv, a Type Ic supernova detected by the Palomar Transient Factory, using the Palomar 48-inch telescope (P48). R-band observations of the PTF 10vgv field with P48 probe the supernova emission from its very early phases (about two weeks before R-band maximum), and set limits on its flux in the week prior to the discovery. Our sensitive upper limits and early detections constrain the post-shock-breakout luminosity of this event. Via comparison to numerical (analytical) models, we derive an upper-limit of R lesssim 4.5 Rsun (R lesssim 1 Rsun) on the radius of the progenitor star, a direct indication in favor of a compact Wolf-Rayet star. Applying a similar analysis to the historical observations of SN 1994I, yields R lesssim 1/4 Rsun for the progenitor radius of this supernova.