Tianmeng Zhang

OPTICAL AND NEAR-INFRARED OBSERVATIONS OF THE HIGHLY REDDENED, RAPIDLY EXPANDING TYPE Ia SUPERNOVA SN 2006X IN M100

We present extensive optical (UBVRI), near-infrared (JK) light curves and optical spectroscopy of the Type Ia supernova SN 2006X in the nearby galaxy NGC 4321 (M100). Our observations suggest that either SN 2006X has an intrinsically peculiar color evolution or it is highly reddened [E(B − V)host = 1.42 ± 0.04 mag ] with RV = 1.48 ± 0.06, much lower than the canonical value of 3.1 for the average Galactic dust. SN 2006X also has one of the highest expansion velocities ever published for an SN Ia. Compared with the other SNe Ia we analyzed, SN 2006X has a broader light curve in the U band, a more prominent bump/shoulder feature in the V and R bands, a more pronounced secondary maximum in the I and NIR bands, and a remarkably smaller late-time decline rate in the B band. The B − V color evolution shows an obvious deviation from the Lira-Phillips relation at 1-3 months after maximum brightness. At early times, optical spectra of SN 2006X displayed strong, high-velocity features of both intermediate-mass elements (Si, Ca, and S) and iron peak elements, while at late times they showed a relatively blue continuum, consistent with the blue U − B and B − V colors at similar epochs. A light echo and/or the interaction of the SN ejecta and its circumstellar material may provide a plausible explanation for its late-time photometric and spectroscopic behavior. Using the Cepheid distance of M100, we derive a Hubble constant of 72.8 ± 8.2 km s−1 Mpc−1 (statistical) from the normalized dereddened luminosity of SN 2006X. We briefly discuss whether abnormal dust is a universal signature for all SNe Ia and whether the most rapidly expanding objects form a subclass with distinct photometric and spectroscopic properties.

Evidence for Two Distinct Populations of Type Ia Supernovae

Fast and Young Type Ia supernovae are thought to result from the thermonuclear explosion of a white dwarf star accreting material from a companion star in a binary system. Their adoption as cosmic yardsticks has led to the discovery of the accelerated expansion of the universe. Wang et al. (p. 170, published online 7 March) show that supernovae with higher expansion velocities are located in the central, brighter regions of their host galaxies and are found in larger, more luminous galaxies, suggesting that they are associated with younger stellar populations. The spectral diversity of a particular type of stellar explosion is tied to the stellar environment. Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) have been used as excellent standardizable candles for measuring cosmic expansion, but their progenitors are still elusive. Here, we report that the spectral diversity of SNe Ia is tied to their birthplace environments. We found that those with high-velocity ejecta are substantially more concentrated in the inner and brighter regions of their host galaxies than are normal-velocity SNe Ia. Furthermore, the former tend to inhabit larger and more luminous hosts. These results suggest that high-velocity SNe Ia likely originate from relatively younger and more metal-rich progenitors than do normal-velocity SNe Ia and are restricted to galaxies with substantial chemical evolution.

Discovery of the Broad-lined Type Ic SN 2013cq Associated with the Very Energetic GRB 130427A

Long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) at z < 1 are found in most cases to be accompanied by bright, broad-lined Type Ic supernovae (SNe Ic-BL). The highest-energy GRBs are mostly located at higher redshifts, where the associated SNe are hard to detect observationally. Here, we present early and late observations of the optical counterpart of the very energetic GRB 130427A. Despite its moderate redshift, z = 0.3399 ± 0.0002, GRB 130427A is at the high end of the GRB energy distribution, with an isotropic-equivalent energy release of E iso ~ 9.6 × 1053 erg, more than an order of magnitude more energetic than other GRBs with spectroscopically confirmed SNe. In our dense photometric monitoring, we detect excess flux in the host-subtracted r-band light curve, consistent with that expected from an emerging SN, ~0.2 mag fainter than the prototypical SN 1998bw. A spectrum obtained around the time of the SN peak (16.7 days after the GRB) reveals broad undulations typical of SNe Ic-BL, confirming the presence of an SN, designated SN 2013cq. The spectral shape and early peak time are similar to those of the high expansion velocity SN 2010bh associated with GRB 100316D. Our findings demonstrate that high-energy, long-duration GRBs, commonly detected at high redshift, can also be associated with SNe Ic-BL, pointing to a common progenitor mechanism.

TYPE IIn SUPERNOVA SN 2010jl: OPTICAL OBSERVATIONS FOR OVER 500 DAYS AFTER EXPLOSION

We present extensive optical observations of a Type IIn supernova (SN IIn) 2010jl for the first 1.5 years after its discovery. The UBVRI light curves demonstrated an interesting two-stage evolution during the nebular phase, which almost flatten out after about 90 days from the optical maximum. SN 2010jl has one of the highest intrinsic Ha luminosities ever recorded for an SN IIn, especially at late phase, suggesting a strong interaction of SN ejecta with the dense circumstellar material (CSM) ejected by the progenitor. This is also indicated by the remarkably strong Balmer lines persisting in the optical spectra. One interesting spectral evolution about SN 2010jl is the appearance of asymmetry of the Balmer lines. These lines can be well decomposed into a narrow component and an intermediate-width component. The intermediate-width component showed a steady increase in both strength and blueshift with time until t similar to 400 days after maximum, but it became less blueshifted at t similar to 500 days, when the line profile appeared relatively symmetric again. Owing to the fact that a pure reddening effect will lead to a sudden decline of the light curves and a progressive blueshift of the spectral lines, we therefore propose that the asymmetric profiles of H lines seen in SN 2010jl are unlikely due to the extinction by newly formed dust inside the ejecta, contrary to the explanation by some early studies. Based on a simple CSM-interaction model, we speculate that the progenitor of SN 2010jl may suffer a gigantic mass loss (similar to 30-50 M-circle dot) a few decades before explosion. Considering a slow-moving stellar wind (e. g., similar to 28 km s(-1)) inferred for the preexisting, dense CSM shell and the extremely high mass-loss rate (1-2 M-circle dot yr(-1)), we suggest that the progenitor of SN 2010jl might have experienced a red supergiant stage and may explode finally as a post-red supergiant star with an initial mass above 30-40 M-circle dot.

Evidence for Type Ia Supernova Diversity from Ultraviolet Observations with the Hubble Space Telescope

We present ultraviolet (UV) spectroscopy and photometry of four Type Ia supernovae (SNe 2004dt, 2004ef, 2005M, and 2005cf) obtained with the UV prism of the Advanced Camera for Surveys on the Hubble Space Telescope. This data set provides unique spectral time series down to 2000 A. Significant diversity is seen in the near-maximum-light spectra (~2000-3500 A) for this small sample. The corresponding photometric data, together with archival data from Swift Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope observations, provide further evidence of increased dispersion in the UV emission with respect to the optical. The peak luminosities measured in the uvw1/F250W filter are found to correlate with the B-band light-curve shape parameter Δm 15(B), but with much larger scatter relative to the correlation in the broadband B band (e.g., ~0.4 mag versus ~0.2 mag for those with 0.8 mag 3σ), being brighter than normal SNe Ia such as SN 2005cf by ~0.9 mag and ~2.0 mag in the uvw1/F250W and uvm2/F220W filters, respectively. We show that different progenitor metallicity or line-expansion velocities alone cannot explain such a large discrepancy. Viewing-angle effects, such as due to an asymmetric explosion, may have a significant influence on the flux emitted in the UV region. Detailed modeling is needed to disentangle and quantify the above effects.

The 0.1 <z < 1.65 evolution of the bright end of the [O ii] luminosity function

We present the [Oii] (λλ3729,3726) luminosity function measured in the redshift range 0.1 <z< 1.65 with unprecedented depth and accuracy. Our measurements are based on medium resolution flux-calibrated spectra of emission line galaxies with the visual and near UV FOcal Reducer and low dispersion Spectrograph (FORS2) for the Very Large Telescope (VLT) of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and with the SDSS-III/BOSS spectrograph. The FORS2 spectra and the corresponding catalog containing redshifts and line fluxes are released along with this paper. In this work we use a novel method to combine these surveys with GAMA, zCOSMOS, and VVDS, which have different target selection, producing a consistent weighting scheme to derive the [Oii] luminosity function. The[Oii] luminosity function is in good agreement with previous independent estimates. The comparison with two state-of-the-art semi-analytical models is good, which is encouraging for the production of mock catalogs of [Oii] flux limited surveys. We observe the bright end evolution over 8.5 Gyr: we measure the decrease of log L∗ from 42.4 erg/s at redshift 1.44 to 41.2 at redshift 0.165 and we find that the faint end slope flattens when redshift decreases. This measurement confirms the feasibility of the target selection of future baryonic acoustic oscillation surveys aiming at observing [Oii] flux limited samples.

Optical and ultraviolet observations of the narrow-lined type Ia SN 2012fr in NGC 1365

Extensive optical and ultraviolet (UV) observations of the type Ia supernova (SN Ia) 2012fr are presented in this paper. It has a relatively high luminosity, with an absolute B-band peak magnitude of about -19.5 mag and a smaller post-maximum decline rate than normal SNe Ia (e.g., Delta m(15)(B) = 0.85 +/- 0.05 mag). Based on the UV and optical light curves, we derived that a Ni-56 mass of about 0.88 M-circle dot was synthesized in the explosion. The earlier spectra are characterized by noticeable high-velocity features of Si II lambda 6355 and Ca II with velocities in the range of similar to 22,000-25,000 km s(-1). At around the maximum light, these spectral features are dominated by the photospheric components which are noticeably narrower than normal SNe Ia. The post-maximum velocity of the photosphere remains almost constant at similar to 12,000 km s(-1) for about one month, reminiscent of the behavior of some luminous SNe Ia like SN 1991T. We propose that SN 2012fr may represent a subset of the SN 1991T-like SNe Ia viewed in a direction with a clumpy or shell-like structure of ejecta, in terms of a significant level of polarization reported in Maund et al. in 2013.

THE PROGENITOR OF SN 2004dj IN A STAR CLUSTER

The progenitor of Type II-P (P p plateau) supernova SN 2004dj is identified with a supergiant in a compact star cluster known as “Sandage’s star 96” (S96) in the nearby spiral galaxy NGC 2403, which was fortuitously imaged as part of the Beijing-Arizona-Taiwan-Connecticut (BATC) Multicolor Sky Survey from 1995 February to 2003 December prior to SN 2004dj. The superior photometry of BATC images for S96, taken with 14 intermediate-band filters covering 3000–10000 , unambiguously establishes the star cluster nature of S96, with u A an age of ∼20 Myr, a reddening of mag, and a total mass of ∼96,000 M,. The compact star E(B V) ∼ 0.35 cluster nature of S96 is also consistent with the lack of light variations in the past decade. The SN progenitor is estimated to have a main-sequence mass of ∼12 M,. The comparison of our intermediate-band data of S96 with the postoutburst photometry obtained as the SN significantly dims with time may hopefully conclusively establish the nature of the progenitor. Subject headings: galaxies: individual (NGC 2403) — galaxies: star clusters — stars: evolution — supergiants — supernovae: general — supernovae: individual (SN 2004dj)

Massive stars exploding in a He-rich circumstellar medium – IV. Transitional Type Ibn supernovae

We present ultraviolet, optical and near-infrared data of the Type Ibn supernovae (SNe) 2010al and 2011hw. SN 2010al reaches an absolute magnitude at peak of M-R = -18.86 +/- 0.21. Its early light curve shows similarities with normal SNe Ib, with a rise to maximum slower than most SNe Ibn. The spectra are dominated by a blue continuum at early stages, with narrow P-Cygni He I lines indicating the presence of a slow-moving, He-rich circumstellar medium. At later epochs, the spectra well match those of the prototypical SN Ibn 2006jc, although the broader lines suggest that a significant amount of He was still present in the stellar envelope at the time of the explosion. SN 2011hw is somewhat different. It was discovered after the first maximum, but the light curve shows a double peak. The absolute magnitude at discovery is similar to that of the second peak (M-R = -18.59 +/- 0.25), and slightly fainter than the average of SNe Ibn. Though the spectra of SN 2011hw are similar to those of SN 2006jc, coronal lines and narrow Balmer lines are clearly detected. This indicates substantial interaction of the SN ejecta with He-rich, but not H-free, circumstellar material. The spectra of SN 2011hw suggest that it is a transitional SN Ibn/IIn event similar to SN 2005la. While for SN 2010al the spectrophotometric evolution favours a H-deprived Wolf-Rayet progenitor (of WN-type), we agree with the conclusion of Smith et al. that the precursor of SN 2011hw was likely in transition from a luminous blue variable to an early Wolf-Rayet (Ofpe/WN9) stage.

OPTICAL PHOTOMETRY OF THE TYPE II-P SUPERNOVA 2004dj IN NGC 2403

We present photometric data of the Type II-P supernova (SN) 2004dj in NGC 2403. The multicolor light curves cover the SN from ~60 to 200 days after explosion and are measured with a set of intermediate-band filters that have the advantage of tracing the strength variations of some spectral features. The light curves show a flat evolution in the middle of the plateau phase, then decline exponentially at the late times, with a rate of 0.10 ± 0.03 mag (10 days)-1 in most of the filters. In the nebular phase, the spectral energy distribution of SN 2004dj shows a steady increase in the flux near 6600 and 8500 A, which may correspond to the emission lines of Hα and the Ca II near-IR triplet, respectively. The photometric behavior suggests that SN 2004dj is a normal SN II-P. Compared with the light curves of another typical SN II-P, 1999em, we estimate the explosion date to be 2004 June 10 ± 21 UT (JD 2,453,167 ± 21) for SN 2004dj. We also estimate the ejected nickel mass during the explosion to be M(56Ni) = 0.023 ± 0.005 M⊙ from two different methods, which is typical for a SN II-P. We derive the explosion energy to be E ≈ 0.75 × 1051 ergs, the ejecta mass to be M ≈ 10.0 M⊙, and the initial radius to be R ≈ 282 R⊙ for the presupernova star of SN 2004dj, which are consistent with other typical SNe II-P.