Search

We present extensive observations of the Type II supernova (SN II) SN 2023ufx, which is likely the most metal-poor SN II observed to date. It exploded in the outskirts of a low-metallicity ( Z _host ∼ 0.1 Z _⊙ ) dwarf ( M _g = −13.39 ± 0.16 mag, r _proj ∼ 1 kpc) galaxy. The explosion is luminous, peaking at M _g ≈ −18.5 mag, and shows rapid evolution. The r -band (pseudobolometric) light curve has a shock-cooling phase lasting 20 (17) days followed by a 19 (23) day plateau. The entire optically thick phase lasts only ≈55 days following explosion, indicating that the red supergiant progenitor had a thinned H envelope prior to explosion. The early spectra obtained during the shock-cooling phase show no evidence for narrow emission features and limit the preexplosion mass-loss rate to $\dot{M}\lesssim {10}^{-3}$ M _⊙ yr ^−1 . The photospheric-phase spectra are devoid of prominent metal absorption features, indicating a progenitor metallicity of ≲0.1 Z _⊙ . The seminebular (∼60–130 days) spectra reveal weak Fe ii , but other metal species typically observed at these phases (Ti ii , Sc ii , and Ba ii ) are conspicuously absent. The late-phase optical and near-infrared spectra also reveal broad (≈10 ^4 km s ^−1 ) double-peaked H α , P β , and P γ emission profiles suggestive of a fast outflow launched during the explosion. Outflows are typically attributed to rapidly rotating progenitors, which also prefer metal-poor environments. This is only the second SN II with ≲0.1 Z _⊙ and both exhibit peculiar evolution, suggesting a sizable fraction of metal-poor SNe II have distinct properties compared to nearby metal-enriched SNe II. These observations lay the groundwork for modeling the metal-poor SNe II expected in the early Universe.

Flux excesses in the early-time light curves of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are predicted by multiple theoretical models and have been observed in a number of nearby SNe Ia over the last decade. However, the astrophysical processes that cause these excesses may affect their use as standardizable candles for cosmological parameter measurements. We perform a systematic search for early-time excesses in SNe Ia observed by the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) to study whether SNe Ia with these excesses yield systematically different Hubble residuals. We analyze two compilations of SN Ia light curves from ZTF’s first year of operations: 127 high-cadence light curves from Y. Yao et al. and 305 light curves from the ZTF cosmology data release of S. Dhawan et al. We detect significant early-time excesses for 17 SNe Ia in these samples and find that the excesses have a median g − r color of 0.10 ± 0.11 mag; we do not find a clear preference for blue excesses as predicted by several models. Using the SALT3 model, we measure Hubble residuals for these two samples, finding that excess-having SNe Ia may have lower Hubble residuals (HR) after correcting for shape, color, and host-galaxy mass, at ∼2–3 σ significance; our baseline result is ΔHR = −0.056 ± 0.026 mag (2.2 σ ). We compare the host-galaxy masses of excess-having and no-excess SNe Ia and find they are consistent, though at marginal significance excess-having SNe Ia may prefer lower-mass hosts. Additional discoveries of early excess SNe Ia will be a powerful way to understand potential biases in SN Ia cosmology and probe the physics of SN Ia progenitors.

We present optical, infrared, ultraviolet, and radio observations of SN 2022xkq, an underluminous fast-declining Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) in NGC 1784 ( D ≈ 31 Mpc), from