The Luminous Type Ia Supernova 2022ilv and Its Early Excess Emission

The Astrophysical Journal Letters American Astronomical Society 943:2 (2023) L20-L20

Authors:

Shubham Srivastav, SJ Smartt, ME Huber, G Dimitriadis, KC Chambers, Michael D Fulton, Thomas Moore, FP Callan, James H Gillanders, K Maguire, M Nicholl, Luke J Shingles, SA Sim, KW Smith, JP Anderson, Thomas de Boer, Ting-Wan Chen, Hua Gao, DR Young

Abstract:

We present observations and analysis of the host-less and luminous type Ia supernova 2022ilv, illustrating it is part of the 2003fg-like family, often referred to as super-Chandrasekhar (Ia-SC) explosions. The ATLAS light curve shows evidence of a short-lived, pulse-like early excess, similar to that detected in another luminous type Ia supernova (SN 2020hvf). The light curve is broad and the early spectra are remarkably similar to SN 2009dc. Adopting a redshift of $z=0.026 \pm 0.005$ for SN 2022ilv based on spectral matching, our model light curve requires a large $^{56}$Ni mass in the range $0.7-1.5$ M$_{\odot}$, and a large ejecta mass in the range $1.6-2.3$ M$_{\odot}$. The early excess can be explained by fast-moving SN ejecta interacting with a thin, dense shell of circumstellar material close to the progenitor ($\sim 10^{13}$ cm), a few hours after the explosion. This may be realised in a double-degenerate scenario, wherein a white dwarf merger is preceded by ejection of a small amount ($\sim 10^{-3}-10^{-2}$ M$_{\odot}$) of hydrogen and helium-poor tidally stripped material. A deep pre-explosion Pan-STARRS1 stack indicates no host galaxy to a limiting magnitude of $r \sim 24.5$. This implies a surprisingly faint limit for any host of $M_r \gtrsim -11$, providing further evidence that these types of explosion occur predominantly in low-metallicity environments.Comment: Accepted to ApJL after minor revisio

Tidal Disruption Events from Eccentric Orbits and Lessons Learned from the Noteworthy ASASSN-14ko

The Astrophysical Journal American Astronomical Society 944:2 (2023) 184

Authors:

Chang Liu, Brenna Mockler, Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz, Ricardo Yarza, Jamie AP Law-Smith, Smadar Naoz, Denyz Melchor, Sanaea Rose

Abstract:

Stars grazing supermassive black holes (SMBHs) on bound orbits may survive tidal disruption, causing periodic flares. Inspired by the recent discovery of the periodic nuclear transient ASASSN-14ko, a promising candidate for a repeating tidal disruption event (TDE), we study the tidal deformation of stars approaching SMBHs on eccentric orbits. With both analytical and hydrodynamic methods, we show the overall tidal deformation of a star is similar to that in a parabolic orbit provided that the eccentricity is above a critical value. This allows one to make use of existing simulation libraries from parabolic encounters to calculate the mass fallback rate in eccentric TDEs. We find the flare structures of eccentric TDEs show a complicated dependence on both the SMBH mass and the orbital period. For stars orbiting SMBHs with relatively short periods, we predict significantly shorter-lived duration flares than those in parabolic TDEs, which can be used to predict repeating events if the mass of the SMBH can be independently measured. Using an adiabatic mass-loss model, we study the flare evolution over multiple passages, and show the evolved stars can survive many more passages than main-sequence stars. We apply this theoretical framework to the repeating TDE candidate ASASSN-14ko and suggest that its recurrent flares originate from a moderately massive (M ≳ 1 M ⊙), extended (likely ≈10 R ⊙), evolved star on a grazing, bound orbit around the SMBH. Future hydrodynamic simulations of multiple tidal interactions will enable realistic models on the individual flare structure and the evolution over multiple flares.

Particle acceleration and high energy emission in the white dwarf binaries AE Aquarii and AR Scorpii

World Scientific Publishing (2023) 4522-4531

Authors:

PJ Meintjes, ST Madzime, Q Kaplan, HJ van Heerden, KK Singh, DAH Buckley, PA Woudt, R Fender

Revealing the Progenitor of SN 2021zby through Analysis of the TESS Shock-cooling Light Curve

The Astrophysical Journal Letters American Astronomical Society 943:2 (2023) L15-L15

Authors:

Qinan Wang, Patrick Armstrong, Yossef Zenati, Ryan Ridden-Harper, Armin Rest, Iair Arcavi, Charles D Kilpatrick, Ryan J Foley, Brad E Tucker, Chris Lidman, Thomas L Killestein, Melissa Shahbandeh, Joseph P Anderson, Rodrigo Angulo, Chris Ashall, Jamison Burke, Ting-Wan Chen, Sophie von Coelln, Kyle A Dalrymple, Kyle W Davis, Michael D Fulton, Lluís Galbany, Estefania Padilla Gonzalez, Bore Gao, Mariusz Gromadzki, D Andrew Howell, Nada Ihanec, Jacob E Jencson, David O Jones, Joseph D Lyman, Curtis McCully, Tomás E Müller-Bravo, Megan Newsome, Matt Nicholl, David O’Neill, Craig Pellegrino, Sofia Rest, Stephen J Smartt, Ken Smith, Shubham Srivastav, Giacomo Terreran, Samaporn Tinyanont, David R Young, Alfredo Zenteno

Abstract:

Abstract We present early observations and analysis of the double-peaked Type IIb supernova (SN IIb) SN 2021zby. TESS captured the prominent early shock-cooling peak of SN 2021zby within the first ∼10 days after explosion with a 30 minute cadence. We present optical and near-infrared spectral series of SN 2021zby, including three spectra during the shock-cooling phase. Using a multiband model fit, we find that the inferred properties of its progenitor are consistent with a red supergiant or yellow supergiant, with an envelope mass of ∼0.30–0.65 M ⊙ and an envelope radius of ∼120–300 R ⊙. These inferred progenitor properties are similar to those of other SNe IIb with a double-peaked feature, such as SNe 1993J, 2011dh, 2016gkg, and 2017jgh. This study further validates the importance of the high cadence and early coverage in resolving the shape of the shock-cooling light curve, while the multiband observations, particularly UV, are also necessary to fully constrain the progenitor properties.

Day-timescale variability in the radio light curve of the Tidal Disruption Event AT2022cmc: confirmation of a highly relativistic outflow

(2023)

Authors:

L Rhodes, JS Bright, R Fender, I Sfaradi, DA Green, A Horesh, K Mooley, D Pasham, S Smartt, DJ Titterington, AJ van der Horst, DRA Williams