RADIO OBSERVATIONS OF A SAMPLE OF BROAD-LINE TYPE IC SUPERNOVAE DISCOVERED BY PTF/IPTF : A SEARCH FOR RELATIVISTIC EXPLOSIONS

• Long duration gamma-ray bursts are a rare subclass of stripped-envelope core-collapse supernovae (SNe) that launch collimated relativistic outflows (jets). All gamma-ray-burst-associated SNe are spectroscopically Type Ic, with broadlines, but the fraction of broad-lined SNe Ic harboring low-luminosity gamma-ray bursts remains largely unconstrained. Some SNe should be accompanied by off-axis gamma-ray burst jets that initially remain invisible, but then emerge as strong radio sources (as the jets decelerate). However, this critical prediction of the jet model for gamma-ray bursts has yet to be verified observationally. Here, we present K. G. Jansky Very Large Array observations of 15 broad-lined SNe of Type Ic discovered by the Palomar Transient Factory in an untargeted manner. Most of the SNe in our sample exclude radio emission observationally similar to that of the radio-loud, relativistic SN 1998bw. We constrain the fraction of 1998bw-like broad-lined SNe Ic to be less than or similar to 41% (99.865% confidence). Most of the events in our sample also exclude off-axis jets similar to GRB 031203 and GRB 030329, but we cannot rule out off-axis gamma-ray bursts expanding in a low-density wind environment. Three SNe in our sample are detected in the radio. PTF11qcj and PTF14dby show late-time radio emission with average ejecta speeds of approximate to 0.3-0.4 c, on the dividing line between relativistic and ordinary SNe. The speed of PTF11cmh radio ejecta is poorly constrained. We estimate that less than or similar to 85% (99.865% confidence) of the broad-lined SNe Ic in our sample may harbor off-axis gamma-ray bursts expanding in media with densities in the range probed by this study.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik -- Astronomi, astrofysik och kosmologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences -- Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

gamma-ray burst: general

radiation mechanisms: non-thermal

supernovae: general

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