1. RAPIDLY DECAYING SUPERNOVA 2010X: A CANDIDATE '.Ia' EXPLOSION
- Author
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Mansi M. Kasliwal, D. Andrew Howell, Dovi Poznanski, D. McKenna, Mark Sullivan, Viswa Velur, Robert M. Quimby, Nicholas M. Law, Joseph Brimacombe Mb ChB Frca, David Hale, Assaf Sternberg, Stefan Immler, Richard Walters, Robert A. Fesen, Joshua S. Bloom, Peter Nugent, Eran O. Ofek, Lars Bildsten, Richard Dekany, S. Bradley Cenko, Neil Gehrels, Gustavo Rahmer, Roger Smith, Avishay Gal-Yam, Iair Arcavi, Shrinivas R. Kulkarni, Paul F. Burke, Ken J. Shen, O. Yaron, Dan Milisavljevic, Eric Hsiao, K. Bui, Janet Jacobsen, Douglas J. Rich, Jeff Zolkower, and John Henning
- Subjects
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE) ,Physics ,Thermonuclear fusion ,Accretion (meteorology) ,Detonation ,FOS: Physical sciences ,chemistry.chemical_element ,White dwarf ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,Astrophysics ,Light curve ,Supernova ,Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics ,chemistry ,Space and Planetary Science ,Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena ,Ejecta ,Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR) ,Helium - Abstract
We present the discovery, photometric and spectroscopic follow-up observations of SN 2010X (PTF 10bhp). This supernova decays exponentially with tau_d=5 days, and rivals the current recordholder in speed, SN 2002bj. SN 2010X peaks at M_r=-17mag and has mean velocities of 10,000 km/s. Our light curve modeling suggests a radioactivity powered event and an ejecta mass of 0.16 Msun. If powered by Nickel, we show that the Nickel mass must be very small (0.02 Msun) and that the supernova quickly becomes optically thin to gamma-rays. Our spectral modeling suggests that SN 2010X and SN 2002bj have similar chemical compositions and that one of Aluminum or Helium is present. If Aluminum is present, we speculate that this may be an accretion induced collapse of an O-Ne-Mg white dwarf. If Helium is present, all observables of SN 2010X are consistent with being a thermonuclear Helium shell detonation on a white dwarf, a ".Ia" explosion. With the 1-day dynamic-cadence experiment on the Palomar Transient Factory, we expect to annually discover a few such events., Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures; Minor Changes; Note correction in Fig 4 caption; published by ApJL
- Published
- 2010
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