Daniel R. van Rossum

FAILED-DETONATION SUPERNOVAE: SUBLUMINOUS LOW-VELOCITY Ia SUPERNOVAE AND THEIR KICKED REMNANT WHITE DWARFS WITH IRON-RICH CORES

Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) originate from the thermonuclear explosions of carbon-oxygen (C-O) white dwarfs (WDs). The single-degenerate scenario is a well-explored model of SNe Ia where unstable thermonuclear burning initiates in an accreting, Chandrasekhar-mass WD and forms an advancing flame. By several proposed physical processes, the rising, burning material triggers a detonation, which subsequently consumes and unbinds the WD. However, if a detonation is not triggered and the deflagration is too weak to unbind the star, a completely different scenario unfolds. We explore the failure of the gravitationally confined detonation mechanism of SNe Ia, and demonstrate through two-dimensional and three-dimensional simulations the properties of failed-detonation SNe. We show that failed-detonation SNe expel a few 0.1 M ☉ of burned and partially burned material and that a fraction of the material falls back onto the WD, polluting the remnant WD with intermediate-mass and iron-group elements that likely segregate to the core forming a WD whose core is iron rich. The remaining material is asymmetrically ejected at velocities comparable to the escape velocity from the WD, and in response, the WD is kicked to velocities of a few hundred km s–1. These kicks may unbind the binary and eject a runaway/hypervelocity WD. Although the energy and ejected mass of the failed-detonation SN are a fraction of typical thermonuclear SNe, they are likely to appear as subluminous low-velocity SNe Ia. Such failed detonations might therefore explain or are related to the observed branch of peculiar SNe Ia, such as the family of low-velocity subluminous SNe (SN 2002cx/SN 2008ha-like SNe).

Fast evolving pair-instability supernova models: evolution, explosion, light curves

With an increasing number of superluminous supernovae (SLSNe) discovered the question of their origin remains open and causes heated debates in the supernova community. Currently, there are three proposed mechanisms for SLSNe: (1) pair-instability supernovae (PISN), (2) magnetar-driven supernovae, and (3) models in which the supernova ejecta interacts with a circumstellar material ejected before the explosion. Based on current observations of SLSNe, the PISN origin has been disfavoured for a number of reasons. Many PISN models provide overly broad light curves and too reddened spectra, because of massive ejecta and a high amount of nickel. In the current study we re-examine PISN properties using progenitor models computed with the GENEC code. We calculate supernova explosions with FLASH and light curve evolution with the radiation hydrodynamics code STELLA. We find that high-mass models (200 and 250 solar masses) at relatively high metallicity (Z=0.001) do not retain hydrogen in the outer layers and produce relatively fast evolving PISNe Type I and might be suitable to explain some SLSNe. We also investigate uncertainties in light curve modelling due to codes, opacities, the nickel-bubble effect and progenitor structure and composition.

Emission From Pair-Instability Supernovae With Rotation

Pair-instability supernovae (PISNe) have been suggested as candidates for some superluminous supernovae, such as SN 2007bi, and as one of the dominant types of explosion occurring in the early universe from massive, zero-metallicity Population III stars. The progenitors of such events can be rapidly rotating, therefore exhibiting different evolutionary properties due to the effects of rotationally induced mixing and mass-loss. Proper identification of such events requires rigorous radiation hydrodynamics and radiative transfer calculations that capture not only the behavior of the light curve but also the spectral evolution of these events. We present radiation hydrodynamics and radiation transport calculations for 90-300 M ☉ rotating PISNe covering both the shock breakout and late light curve phases. We also investigate cases of different initial metallicity and rotation rate to determine the impact of these parameters on the detailed spectral characteristics of these events. In agreement with recent results on non-rotating PISNe, we find that for a range of progenitor masses and rotation rates these events have intrinsically red colors in contradiction with observations of superluminous supernovae. The spectroscopic properties of rotating PISNe are similar to those of non-rotating events with stripped hydrogen and helium envelopes. We find that the progenitor metallicity and rotation rate properties are erased after the explosion and cannot be identified in the resulting model spectra. It is the combined effects of pre-supernova mass-loss and the basic properties of the supernova ejecta such as mass, temperature, and velocity that have the most direct impact in the model spectra of PISNe.

RADIATION TRANSPORT FOR EXPLOSIVE OUTFLOWS: A MULTIGROUP HYBRID MONTE CARLO METHOD

We explore Implicit Monte Carlo (IMC) and discrete diffusion Monte Carlo (DDMC) for radiation transport in high-velocity outflows with structured opacity. The IMC method is a stochastic computational technique for nonlinear radiation transport. IMC is partially implicit in time and may suffer in efficiency when tracking MC particles through optically thick materials. DDMC accelerates IMC in diffusive domains. Abdikamalov extended IMC and DDMC to multigroup, velocity-dependent transport with the intent of modeling neutrino dynamics in core-collapse supernovae. Densmore has also formulated a multifrequency extension to the originally gray DDMC method. We rigorously formulate IMC and DDMC over a high-velocity Lagrangian grid for possible application to photon transport in the post-explosion phase of Type Ia supernovae. This formulation includes an analysis that yields an additional factor in the standard IMC-to-DDMC spatial interface condition. To our knowledge the new boundary condition is distinct from others presented in prior DDMC literature. The method is suitable for a variety of opacity distributions and may be applied to semi-relativistic radiation transport in simple fluids and geometries. Additionally, we test the code, called SuperNu, using an analytic solution having static material, as well as with a manufactured solution for moving material with structured opacities. Finally, we demonstrate with a simple source and 10 group logarithmic wavelength grid that IMC-DDMC performs better than pure IMC in terms of accuracy and speed when there are large disparities between the magnitudes of opacities in adjacent groups. We also present and test our implementation of the new boundary condition.

Radiation Energy Balance Method for Calculating the Time Evolution of Type Ia Supernovae during the Post-explosion Phase

A new method is presented for calculating the time evolution of spherically symmetric Type Ia Supernovae in the post-explosion phase, enabling light curves and spectra to be simulated in a physically self-consistent way. The commonly exploited radiative equilibrium (RE), which is in essence a gas energy balance condition, is unsuitable for this purpose for important physical and numerical reasons. First, the RE depends on the heating and cooling rates of the gas by the radiation field, two quantities that almost completely cancel out and are very difficult to calculate accurately. Second, the internal energy of the gas is only a tiny fraction of the total energy in the system (the vast majority of the energy resides in the radiation field), so that the vast majority of the energy is neglected in solving for the energy balance. The method presented in this paper, based on the radiation energy balance (REB), addresses the bulk of the energy, does not depend on the heating/cooling rates, and guarantees an accurate run of the bolometric luminosity over time while making the gas temperatures consistent with the radiation field. We have implemented the method in the stellar atmosphere code PHOENIX and applied it to the classical W7 model. The results illustrate the importance of each of the four physical contributions to the energy balance as a function of time. The simulated spectra and light curves for W7 show good resemblance to the observations, which demonstrates what can be done using PHOENIX with the REB method.

A PUBLIC SET OF SYNTHETIC SPECTRA FROM EXPANDING ATMOSPHERES FOR X-RAY NOVAE. I. SOLAR ABUNDANCES

X-ray grating observations have revealed great detail in the spectra of novae in the Super Soft Source (SSS) phase. Notable features in the SSS spectra are blueshifted absorption lines, P-Cygni line profiles, and the absence of strong ionization edges, all of which are indicators of an expanding atmosphere. We present, and make publicly available, a set of 672 wind-type (WT) synthetic spectra, obtained from the expanding NLTE SSS models introduced in Van Rossum & Ness with the PHOENIX stellar atmosphere code. The set presented in this paper is limited to solar abundances with the aim to focus on the basic model parameters and their effect on the spectra, providing the basis upon which abundance effects can be studied using a much bigger non-solar set in the next paper in this series. We fit the WT spectra to the five grating spectra taken in the SSS phase of nova V4743 Sgr 2003 as an example application of the WT models. Within the limits of solar abundances we demonstrate that the following parameters are constrained by the data (in order of decreasing accuracy): column density N H, bolometric luminosity L bol, effective temperature T eff, white dwarf radius R, wind asymptotic velocity v ∞, and the mass-loss rate . The models are also sensitive to the assumed white dwarf mass M WD but the effect on the spectra can largely be compensated by the other model parameters. The WT spectra with solar abundances fit the data better than abundance optimized hydrostatic models.

Light Curves and Spectra from a Thermonuclear Explosion of a White Dwarf Merger

Double-degenerate (DD) mergers of carbon-oxygen white dwarfs have recently emerged as a leading candidate for normal Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia). However, many outstanding questions surround DD mergers, including the characteristics of their light curves and spectra. We have recently identified a spiral instability in the post-merger phase of DD mergers and demonstrated that this instability self-consistently leads to detonation in some cases. We call this the spiral merger SN Ia model. Here, we utilize the SuperNu radiative transfer software to calculate three-dimensional synthetic light curves and spectra of the spiral merger simulation with a system mass of 2.1

ON MEASURING the METALLICITY of A TYPE IA SUPERNOVA'S PROGENITOR

M_\odot

Pan-chromatic observations of the remarkable nova Large Magellanic Cloud 2012

from Kashyap et al. Because of their large system masses, both violent and spiral merger light curves are slowly declining. The spiral merger resembles very slowly declining SNe Ia, including SN 2001ay, and provides a more natural explanation for its observed properties than other SN Ia explosion models. Previous synthetic light curves and spectra of violent DD mergers demonstrate a strong dependence on viewing angle, which is in conflict with observations. Here, we demonstrate that the light curves and spectra of the spiral merger are less sensitive to the viewing angle than violent mergers, in closer agreement with observation. We find that the spatial distribution of 56Ni and IMEs follows a characteristic hourglass shape. We discuss the implications of the asymmetric distribution of 56Ni for the early-time gamma-ray observations of 56Ni from SN 2014J. We suggest that DD mergers that agree with the light curves and spectra of normal SNe Ia will likely require a lower system mass.

LIGHT CURVES AND SPECTRA FROM A UNIMODAL CORE-COLLAPSE SUPERNOVA

In Type Ia Supernovae (\sneia), the relative abundances of chemical elements are affected by the neutron excess in the composition of the progenitor white dwarf. Since these products leave signatures in the spectra near maximum light, spectral features may be used to constrain the composition of the progenitor. We calculate the nucleosynthetic yields for three \snia simulations, assuming single degenerate, Chandrasekhar mass progenitors, for a wide range of progenitor metallicities, and calculate synthetic light curves and spectra to explore correlations between progenitor metallicity and the strength of spectral features. We use two 2D simulations of the deflagration-detonation-transition scenario with different