TY - JOUR
T1 - Super-Chandrasekhar-mass light curve models for the highly luminous type Ia supernova 2009dc
AU - Kamiya, Yasuomi
AU - Tanaka, Masaomi
AU - Nomoto, Ken'Ichi
AU - Blinnikov, Sergei I.
AU - Sorokina, Elena I.
AU - Suzuki, Tomoharu
PY - 2012/9/10
Y1 - 2012/9/10
N2 - Several highly luminous Type Ia supernovae (SNeIa) have been discovered. Their high luminosities are difficult to explain with the thermonuclear explosions of Chandrasekhar-mass white dwarfs (WDs). In the present study, we estimate the progenitor mass of SN 2009dc, one of the extremely luminous SNeIa, using the hydrodynamical models as follows. Explosion models of super-Chandrasekhar-mass (super-Ch-mass) WDs are constructed, and multi-color light curves (LCs) are calculated. The comparison between our calculations and the observations of SN 2009dc suggests that the exploding WD has a super-Ch mass of 2.2-2.4 M⊙, producing 1.2-1.4 M⊙ of 56Ni, if the extinction by its host galaxy is negligible. If the extinction is significant, the exploding WD is as massive as ∼2.8 M ⊙, and ∼1.8 M⊙ of 56Ni is necessary to account for the observations. Whether the host-galaxy extinction is significant or not, the progenitor WD must have a thick carbon-oxygen layer in the outermost zone (20%-30% of the WD mass), which explains the observed low expansion velocity of the ejecta and the presence of carbon. Our estimate of the mass of the progenitor WD, especially for the extinction-corrected case, is challenging to the current scenarios of SNeIa. Implications for the progenitor scenarios are also discussed.
AB - Several highly luminous Type Ia supernovae (SNeIa) have been discovered. Their high luminosities are difficult to explain with the thermonuclear explosions of Chandrasekhar-mass white dwarfs (WDs). In the present study, we estimate the progenitor mass of SN 2009dc, one of the extremely luminous SNeIa, using the hydrodynamical models as follows. Explosion models of super-Chandrasekhar-mass (super-Ch-mass) WDs are constructed, and multi-color light curves (LCs) are calculated. The comparison between our calculations and the observations of SN 2009dc suggests that the exploding WD has a super-Ch mass of 2.2-2.4 M⊙, producing 1.2-1.4 M⊙ of 56Ni, if the extinction by its host galaxy is negligible. If the extinction is significant, the exploding WD is as massive as ∼2.8 M ⊙, and ∼1.8 M⊙ of 56Ni is necessary to account for the observations. Whether the host-galaxy extinction is significant or not, the progenitor WD must have a thick carbon-oxygen layer in the outermost zone (20%-30% of the WD mass), which explains the observed low expansion velocity of the ejecta and the presence of carbon. Our estimate of the mass of the progenitor WD, especially for the extinction-corrected case, is challenging to the current scenarios of SNeIa. Implications for the progenitor scenarios are also discussed.
KW - radiative transfer
KW - supernovae: individual (SN 2009dc)
KW - white dwarfs
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U2 - 10.1088/0004-637X/756/2/191
DO - 10.1088/0004-637X/756/2/191
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84865579996
VL - 756
JO - Astrophysical Journal
JF - Astrophysical Journal
SN - 0004-637X
IS - 2
M1 - 191
ER -