| 1. |
- Pastorello, A., et al.
(author)
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Ultra-bright Optical Transients are Linked with Type Ic Supernovae
- 2010
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In: Astrophysical Journal. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 724, s. L16-L21
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Recent searches by unbiased, wide-field surveys have uncovered a group of extremely luminous optical transients. The initial discoveries of SN 2005ap by the Texas Supernova Search and SCP-06F6 in a deep Hubble pencil beam survey were followed by the Palomar Transient Factory confirmation of host redshifts for other similar transients. The transients share the common properties of high optical luminosities (peak magnitudes ~-21 to -23), blue colors, and a lack of H or He spectral features. The physical mechanism that produces the luminosity is uncertain, with suggestions ranging from jet-driven explosion to pulsational pair instability. Here, we report the most detailed photometric and spectral coverage of an ultra-bright transient (SN 2010gx) detected in the Pan-STARRS 1 sky survey. In common with other transients in this family, early-time spectra show a blue continuum and prominent broad absorption lines of O II. However, about 25 days after discovery, the spectra developed type Ic supernova features, showing the characteristic broad Fe II and Si II absorption lines. Detailed, post-maximum follow-up may show that all SN 2005ap and SCP-06F6 type transients are linked to supernovae Ic. This poses problems in understanding the physics of the explosions: there is no indication from late-time photometry that the luminosity is powered by 56Ni, the broad light curves suggest very large ejected masses, and the slow spectral evolution is quite different from typical Ic timescales. The nature of the progenitor stars and the origin of the luminosity are intriguing and open questions.
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| 2. |
- Botticella, M. T., et al.
(author)
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Supernova 2009kf : An Ultraviolet Bright Type IIP Supernova Discovered with Pan-STARRS 1 and GALEX
- 2010
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In: Astrophysical Journal. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 717, s. L52-L56
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We present photometric and spectroscopic observations of a luminous Type IIP Supernova (SN) 2009kf discovered by the Pan-STARRS 1 (PS1) survey and also detected by the Galaxy Evolution Explorer. The SN shows a plateau in its optical and bolometric light curves, lasting approximately 70 days in the rest frame, with an absolute magnitude of M V = -18.4 mag. The P-Cygni profiles of hydrogen indicate expansion velocities of 9000 km s-1 at 61 days after discovery which is extremely high for a Type IIP SN. SN 2009kf is also remarkably bright in the near-ultraviolet (NUV) and shows a slow evolution 10-20 days after optical discovery. The NUV and optical luminosity at these epochs can be modeled with a blackbody with a hot effective temperature (T ~ 16,000 K) and a large radius (R ~ 1 × 1015 cm). The bright bolometric and NUV luminosity, the light curve peak and plateau duration, the high velocities, and temperatures suggest that 2009kf is a Type IIP SN powered by a larger than normal explosion energy. Recently discovered high-z SNe (0.7 < z < 2.3) have been assumed to be IIn SNe, with the bright UV luminosities due to the interaction of SN ejecta with a dense circumstellar medium. UV-bright SNe similar to SN 2009kf could also account for these high-z events, and its absolute magnitude M NUV = -21.5 ± 0.5 mag suggests such SNe could be discovered out to z ~ 2.5 in the PS1 survey.
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| 3. |
- Gezari, S., et al.
(author)
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GALEX and Pan-STARRS1 Discovery of SN IIP 2010aq : The First Few Days After Shock Breakout in a Red Supergiant Star
- 2010
-
In: Astrophysical Journal. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 720, s. L77-L81
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We present the early UV and optical light curve of Type IIP supernova (SN) 2010aq at z = 0.0862, and compare it to analytical models for thermal emission following SN shock breakout in a red supergiant star. SN 2010aq was discovered in joint monitoring between the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) Time Domain Survey (TDS) in the NUV and the Pan-STARRS1 Medium Deep Survey (PS1 MDS) in the g, r, i, and z bands. The GALEX and Pan-STARRS1 observations detect the SN less than 1 day after the shock breakout, measure a diluted blackbody temperature of 31, 000 ± 6000 K 1 day later, and follow the rise in the UV/optical light curve over the next 2 days caused by the expansion and cooling of the SN ejecta. The high signal-to-noise ratio of the simultaneous UV and optical photometry allows us to fit for a progenitor star radius of 700 ± 200R sun, the size of a red supergiant star. An excess in UV emission two weeks after shock breakout compared with SNe well fitted by model atmosphere-code synthetic spectra with solar metallicity is best explained by suppressed line blanketing due to a lower metallicity progenitor star in SN 2010aq. Continued monitoring of PS1 MDS fields by the GALEX TDS will increase the sample of early UV detections of Type II SNe by an order of magnitude and probe the diversity of SN progenitor star properties.
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| 4. |
- Pastorello, A., et al.
(author)
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INTERACTING SUPERNOVAE AND SUPERNOVA IMPOSTORS : SN 2009ip, IS THIS THE END?
- 2013
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In: Astrophysical Journal. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 767:1, s. 1-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We report the results of a three-year-long dedicated monitoring campaign of a restless luminous blue variable (LBV) in NGC 7259. The object, named SN 2009ip, was observed photometrically and spectroscopically in the optical and near-infrared domains. We monitored a number of erupting episodes in the past few years, and increased the density of our observations during eruptive episodes. In this paper, we present the full historical data set from 2009 to 2012 with multi-wavelength dense coverage of the two high-luminosity events between 2012 August and September. We construct bolometric light curves and measure the total luminosities of these eruptive or explosive events. We label them the 2012a event (lasting similar to 50 days) with a peak of 3x10(41) erg s(-1), and the 2012b event (14 day rise time, still ongoing) with a peak of 8 x 1042 erg s(-1). The latter event reached an absolute R-band magnitude of about -18, comparable to that of a core-collapse supernova (SN). Our historical monitoring has detected high-velocity spectral features (similar to 13,000 km s(-1)) in 2011 September, one year before the current SN-like event. This implies that the detection of such high-velocity outflows cannot, conclusively, point to a core-collapse SN origin. We suggest that the initial peak in the 2012a event was unlikely to be due to a faint core-collapse SN. We propose that the high intrinsic luminosity of the latest peak, the variability history of SN 2009ip, and the detection of broad spectral lines indicative of high-velocity ejecta are consistent with a pulsational pair-instability event, and that the star may have survived the last outburst. The question of the survival of the LBV progenitor star and its future fate remain open issues, only to be answered with future monitoring of this historically unique explosion.
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| 5. |
- Kankare, E., et al.
(author)
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Discovery of two new supernovae and an AGN outburst by PS1
- 2010
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Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- We report the discovery of two spectroscopically-confirmed Supernovae PS1-1000302 and PS1-1000303, and an AGN outburst PS1-1000305 in the Pan-STARRS1 "3Pi Faint galaxy supernova survey". PS1-1000302 was detected on June 12.4 UT (g=18.5) at 16:33:43.094 +54:42:04.18 (J2000) located 1.1" from the center of the host galaxy SDSS J163343.08+544205.4. PS1-1000303 was detected on June 14.3 UT (g=19.2) at 17:11:52.827 +43:36:57.06 (J2000) located 0.4" from the center of the host galaxy SDSS J171152.82+433656.7.
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| 6. |
- Nicholl, M., et al.
(author)
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Slowly fading super-luminous supernovae that are not pair-instability explosions
- 2013
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In: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 502:7471, s. 346-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Super-luminous supernovae(1-4) that radiate more than 1044 ergs per second at their peak luminosity have recently been discovered in faint galaxies at redshifts of 0.1-4. Some evolve slowly, resembling models of 'pair-instability' supernovae(5,6). Such models involve stars with original masses 140-260 times that of the Sun that now have carbon-oxygen cores of 65-130 solar masses. In these stars, the photons that prevent gravitational collapse are converted to electron-positron pairs, causing rapid contraction and thermonuclear explosions. Many solar masses of Ni-56 are synthesized; this isotope decays to Fe-56 via Co-56, powering bright light curves(7,8). Such massive progenitors are expected to have formed from metal-poor gas in the early Universe(9). Recently, supernova 2007bi in a galaxy at redshift 0.127 (about 12 billion years after the Big Bang) with a metallicity one-third that of the Sun was observed to look like a fading pair-instability supernova(1,10). Here we report observations of two slow-to-fade super-luminous supernovae that show relatively fast rise times and blue colours, which are incompatible with pair-instability models. Their late-time light-curve and spectral similarities to supernova 2007bi call the nature of that event into question. Our early spectra closely resemble typical fast-declining super-luminous supernovae(2,11,12), which are not powered by radio-activity. Modelling our observations with 10-16 solar masses of magnetar-energized(13,14) ejecta demonstrates the possibility of a common explosion mechanism. The lack of unambiguous nearby pair-instability events suggests that their local rate of occurrence is less than 6 x 10(-6) times that of the core-collapse rate.
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| 7. |
- Pastorello, A., et al.
(author)
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Detection of PTF10cwr/CSS100313 on PS1 sky survey images and host galaxy identification
- 2010
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Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- We report that the transient PTF10cwr (Quimby et al. ATEL #2492), a.k.a. CSS100313:112547-084941 (Mahabal et al. ATel #2490), was also recovered on images from the Pan-STARRS Telescope #1 (PS1) as part of the PS1 3Pi survey (PS1-1000037). Magnitudes of i=18.96 and r=18.65 where measured with respect to SDSS sequence stars on March 12.45 and 13.49 UT respectively. Further photometry was gathered at the Liverpool Telescope on March 20.92 and March 23.00 UT.
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Spiro, S., et al.
(author)
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Low luminosity Type II supernovae - II. Pointing towards moderate mass precursors
- 2014
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In: Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0035-8711 .- 1365-2966. ; 439:3, s. 2873-2892
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We present new data for five underluminous Type II-plateau supernovae (SNe IIP), namely SN 1999gn, SN 2002gd, SN 2003Z, SN 2004eg and SN 2006ov. This new sample of low-luminosity SNe IIP (LL SNe IIP) is analysed together with similar objects studied in the past. All of them show a flat light-curve plateau lasting about 100 d, an underluminous late-time exponential tail, intrinsic colours that are unusually red, and spectra showing prominent and narrow P Cygni lines. A velocity of the ejected material below 10(3) km s(-1) is inferred from measurements at the end of the plateau. The Ni-56 masses ejected in the explosion are very small (< 10(-2) M-circle dot). We investigate the correlations among Ni-56 mass, expansion velocity of the ejecta and absolute magnitude in the middle of the plateau, confirming the main findings of Hamuy, according to which events showing brighter plateau and larger expansion velocities are expected to produce more Ni-56. We propose that these faint objects represent the LL tail of a continuous distribution in parameters space of SNe IIP. The physical properties of the progenitors at the explosion are estimated through the hydrodynamical modelling of the observables for two representative events of this class, namely SN 2005cs and SN 2008in. We find that the majority of LL SNe IIP, and quite possibly all, originate in the core collapse of intermediate-mass stars, in the mass range 10-15 M-circle dot.
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| 10. |
- Valenti, S., et al.
(author)
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Discovery of two new supernovae and a possible AGN/luminous SN IIn in the Pan-STARRS1 3Pi faint galaxy supernova survey
- 2010
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Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- report the discovery of two new supernovae and a possible AGN/luminous SN IIn in the Pan-STARRS 1 "3Pi Faint galaxy supernova survey". During the course of the PS1 3Pi sky survey, PS1-1000791 was detected on Aug 14.40 (UT) (Coord: 20:45:13.089 -06:56:11.090, J2000) at g=19.4 and detected again on Aug 19.33 at r=18.64 within 0.9 arcsec of the faint SDSS galaxy (J204513.14-065611.2). A spectrum of PS1-1000791 was obtained at the Nordic Optical Telescope (+ALFOSC+Gr4; range 350-950nm) on Aug 30.0 (UT).
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