A notable feature of the two standard models for thermonuclear and core-collapse supernovae is that, although these two models are fundamentally different, the respective supernova types have quite similar rates and appearances. For instance, both types occur one to several times per century per typical galaxy and both types seed the universe with the heavy elements essential to life. In spite of this, neither standard model provides a reasonably problem-free description of its target phenomenon. A major obstacle to providing a unified picture of supernovae would seem to be the fact that type Ia supernovae occur typically with gigayear delay times after the cessation of carbon fusion while the core-collapse explosions occur only days after such fusion cessation. In this article we study the possibility of extending the successful supersymmetric model for type Ia supernovae to core-collapse events. The question is whether and under what assumptions a phase transition to an exact supersymmetric background can efficiently explain both type Ia and core collapse supernovae.
We present a model for the triggering of Supernovae Ia (SN Ia) by a phase transition to exact supersymmetry (susy) in the core of a white dwarf star. The model, which accomodates the data on SN Ia and avoids the problems of the standard astrophysical accretion based picture, is based on string landscape ideas and assumes that the decay of the false broken susy vacuum is enhanced at high density. In a slowly expanding susy bubble, the conversion of pairs of fermions to pairs of degenerate scalars releases a significant amount of energy which induces fusion in the surrounding normal matter shell…
For more than forty years virtually all work on the theory of type Ia Supernovae (SN Ia) has assumed that these explosions were due to the transfer of mass to a degenerate star from a partner in a binary system. In these binary models, when the mass of one partner closely approaches the Chandrasekhar maximum for a stable degenerate system, fusion can be initiated and the star explodes. However, there are now a number of indications that fusion could instead be triggered by a phase transition in a sub-Chandrasekhar white dwarf star. Although these indications provide no clue as to what specific…
We pursue the investigation of a model for sub-Chandrasekhar supernovae Ia explosions (SNIa) in which the energy stored in the Pauli tower is released to trigger a nuclear deflagration. The simplest physical model for such a degeneracy breakdown is a phase transition to an exactly supersymmetric state in which the scalar partners of protons, neutrons, and leptons become degenerate with the familiar fermions of our world as in the supersymmetric standard model with susy breaking parameters relaxed to zero. We focus on the ability of the susy phase transition model to fit the total SNIa rate as …
During a core-collapse supernova (SN), axion-like particles (ALPs) could be produced through the Primakoff process and subsequently convert into gamma rays in the magnetic field of the Milky Way. Using a sample of well studied extragalactic SNe at optical wavelengths, we estimate the time of the core collapse and search for a coincident gamma-ray burst with the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT). Under the assumption that at least one SN was contained within the LAT field of view, we exclude photon-ALP couplings within a factor of $\sim$5 of previous limits from SN1987A. With the increasing numb…
The Carnegie Supernova Project-II (CSP-II) was an NSF-funded, four-year program to obtain optical and near-infrared observations of a "Cosmology" sample of $\sim100$ Type Ia supernovae located in the smooth Hubble flow ($0.03 \lesssim z \lesssim 0.10$). Light curves were also obtained of a "Physics" sample composed of 90 nearby Type Ia supernovae at $z \leq 0.04$ selected for near-infrared spectroscopic time-series observations. The primary emphasis of the CSP-II is to use the combination of optical and near-infrared photometry to achieve a distance precision of better than 5%. In this paper, …
Large neutrino detectors like IceCube monitor for core-collapse supernovae using low energy (MeV) neutrinos, with a reach to a supernova neutrino burst to the Magellanic Cloud. However, some models predict the emission of high energy neutrinos (GeV-TeV) from core-collapse supernovae through the interaction of ejecta with circumstellar material and (TeV-PeV) through choked jets. In this paper, we explore the detection horizon of IceCube for core-collapse supernovae using high-energy neutrinos from these models. We examine the potential of two high-energy neutrino data samples from IceCube, one …
High-Redshift Type Ia Supernovae Exhibit Enhanced Calcium Abundances
Texas A&M Institute of Data Science, Texas A&M University（德克萨斯农工大学数据科学研究所）；Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Texas A&M University（德克萨斯农工大学电气与计算机工程系）；George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics & Astronomy, Texas A. & M. University, Department of Physics and Astronomy（德克萨斯农工大学乔治·P和辛西娅·伍兹基础物理与天文学研究所，物理与天文系）
Future time-domain surveys for transient events in the near- and mid-infrared bands will significantly extend our understanding about the physics of the early Universe. In this paper we study the implications of a deep (~27 mag), long-term (~3 years), observationally inexpensive survey with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) within its Continuous Viewing Zone, aimed at discovering luminous supernovae beyond z~2 redshift. We explore the possibilities for detecting Superluminous Supernovae (SLSNe) as well as Type Ia supernovae at such high redshifts and estimate their expected numbers within …
We present the first measurements of the abundances of $α$-elements (Mg, Si, and S) extending out to beyond the virial radius of a cluster of galaxies. Our results, based on Suzaku Key Project observations of the Virgo Cluster, show that the chemical composition of the intra-cluster medium is consistent with being constant on large scales, with a flat distribution of the Si/Fe, S/Fe, and Mg/Fe ratios as a function of radius and azimuth out to 1.4 Mpc (1.3 $r_{200}$). Chemical enrichment of the intergalactic medium due solely to core collapse supernovae (SNcc) is excluded with very high signifi…
Recent studies have shown how the distribution of $^{56}$Ni within the ejecta of type Ia supernovae can have profound consequences on the observed light curves. Observations at early times can therefore provide important details on the explosion physics in thermonuclear supernovae. We present a series of radiative transfer calculations that explore variations in the $^{56}$Ni distribution. Our models also show the importance of the density profile in shaping the light curve, which is often neglected in the literature. Using our model set, we investigate the observations that are necessary to d…
We present the $H$-band wavelength region of thirty post-maximum light near-infrared (NIR) spectra of fourteen transitional and sub-luminous type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia), extending from $+$5d to +20d relative to the epoch of $B$-band maximum. We introduce a new observable, the blue-edge velocity, $v_{edge}$, of the prominent Fe/Co/Ni-peak $H$-band emission feature which is quantitatively measured. The $v_{edge}$ parameter is found to slowly decrease over sub-type ranging from around $-$13,000km/s for transitional SNe~Ia, down to $-$5,000km/s for the sub-luminous SNe Ia. Furthermore, inspection …
Accurately reproducing the physics behind the detonations of Type Ia supernovae and the resultant nucleosynthetic yields is important for interpreting observations of spectra and remnants. The scales of the processes involved span orders of magnitudes, making the problem computationally impossible to ever fully resolve in full star simulations in the present and near future. In the lower density regions of the star, the curvature of the detonation front will slow the detonation, affecting the production of intermediate mass elements. We find that shock strengthening due to the density gradient…
Recent studies have demonstrated the diversity in type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) at early times and highlighted a need for a better understanding of the explosion physics as manifested by observations soon after explosion. To this end, we present a Monte Carlo code designed to model the light curves of radioactively driven, hydrogen-free transients from explosion to approximately maximum light. In this initial study, we have used a parametrised description of the ejecta in SNe Ia, and performed a parameter study of the effects of the $^{56}$Ni distribution on the observed colours and light curves…
The abundance distribution in the ejecta of the peculiar slowly declining Type Ia supernova (SN\,Ia) SN\,1999aa is obtained by modelling a time series of optical spectra. Similar to SN\,1991T, SN\,1999aa was characterised by early-time spectra dominated by \FeIII\ features and a weak \SiII\,6355\,Å line, but it exhibited a high-velocity \CaII\,H\&K line and morphed into a spectroscopically normal SN\,Ia earlier. Three explosion models are investigated, yielding comparable fits. The innermost layers are dominated by $\sim 0.3$\,\Msun\ of neutron-rich stable Fe-group elements, mostly stable iron…
We use the spectroscopy and homogeneous photometry of 97 Type Ia supernovae obtained by the \emph{Carnegie Supernova Project} as well as a subset of 36 Type Ia supernovae presented by Zheng et al. (2018) to examine maximum-light correlations in a four-dimensional (4-D) parameter space: $B$-band absolute magnitude, $M_B$, \ion{Si}{2}~$\lambda6355$ velocity, \vsi, and \ion{Si}{2} pseudo-equivalent widths pEW(\ion{Si}{2}~$\lambda6355$) and pEW(\ion{Si}{2}~$\lambda5972$). It is shown using Gaussian mixture models (GMMs) that the original four groups in the Branch diagram are well-defined and robus…
Current surveys are underway to utilize gravitational lensing by galaxy clusters with Einstein radii >35" in the search for the highest redshift galaxies. Associated supernova from the epoch of reionization would have their fluxes boosted above the detection threshold, extending their duration of visibility. We predict that the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will be able to discover lensed core-collapse supernovae at redshifts exceeding z=7-8.
SN 2002cx-like Type Ia supernovae (also known as SNe Iax) represent one of the most numerous peculiar SN classes. They differ from normal SNe Ia by having fainter peak magnitudes, faster decline rates and lower photospheric velocities, displaying a wide diversity in these properties. We present both integral-field and long-slit visual-wavelength spectroscopy of the host galaxies and explosion sites of SNe Iax to provide constraints on their progenitor formation scenarios. The SN Iax explosion site metallicity distribution is similar to that of core-collapse (CC) SNe and metal-poor compared to …
The origin of the diffuse extragalactic gamma-ray background (EGB) has been intensively studied but remains unsettled. Current popular source candidates include unresolved star-forming galaxies, starburst galaxies, and blazars. In this paper we calculate the EGB contribution from the interactions of cosmic rays accelerated by Type Ia supernovae (SNe), extending earlier work which only included core-collapse SNe. We consider Type Ia events in star-forming galaxies, but also in quiescent galaxies that lack star formation. For star-forming galaxies, consistently including Type Ia events makes lit…
While it is clear that Type Ia supernovae (SNe) are the result of thermonuclear explosions in C/O white dwarfs (WDs), a great deal remains uncertain about the binary companion that facilitates the explosive disruption of the WD. Here, we present a comprehensive analysis of a large, unique data set of 127 SNe$\,$Ia with exquisite coverage by the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF). High-cadence (six observations per night) ZTF observations allow us to measure the SN rise time and examine its initial evolution. We develop a Bayesian framework to model the early rise as a power law in time, which ena…
Tightening Cosmological Constraints Within and Beyond $Λ$CDM Using Gamma-Ray Bursts Calibrated with Type Ia Supernovae
INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte（意大利国家天体物理研究所卡波迪蒙特天文台）；Institute for Frontiers in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Beijing Normal University（北京师范大学前沿天文与天体物理研究院）；Department of Astronomy, Beijing Normal University（北京师范大学天文系）；INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova（意大利国家天体物理研究所帕多瓦天文台）；Università di Camerino（卡梅里诺大学）；INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera（意大利国家天体物理研究所布雷拉天文台）；Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Perugia（意大利国家核物理研究所佩鲁贾分部）；SUNY Polytechnic（纽约州立理工大学）；Al-Farabi Kazakh National University（阿里-法拉比哈萨克国立大学）；ICRANet（国际相对论天体物理中心网络）
Hydrogen-rich (type II) supernovae (SNe) exhibit considerable photometric and spectroscopic diversity. Extending previous work that focused exclusively on photometry, we simultaneously model the multi-band light curves and optical spectra of Type II SNe using RSG progenitors that are characterized by their H-rich envelope masses or the mass and extent of an enshrouding cocoon at the star's surface. Reducing the H-rich envelope mass yields faster declining light curves, a shorter duration of the photospheric phase, broader line profiles at early times, but only a modest boost in early-time opti…
Although Type Ia supernova cosmology has now reached a mature state, it is important to develop as many independent methods as possible to understand the true nature of dark energy. Recent studies have shown that Type II supernovae (SNe II) offer such a path and could be used as alternative distance indicators. However, the majority of these studies were unable to extend the Hubble diagram above redshift $z=0.3$ because of observational limitations. Here, we show that we are now ready to move beyond low redshifts and attempt high-redshift ($z \gtrsim 0.3$) SN~II cosmology as a result of new-ge…
We present an analysis of ultraviolet (UV) to near-infrared observations of the fast-declining Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) 2007on and 2011iv, hosted by the Fornax cluster member NGC 1404. The B-band light curves of SN 2007on and SN 2011iv are characterised by dm_15(B) decline-rate values of 1.96 mag and 1.77 mag, respectively. Although they have similar decline rates, their peak B- and H-band magnitudes differ by ~0.60 mag and ~0.35 mag, respectively. After correcting for the luminosity vs. decline rate and the luminosity vs. colour relations, the peak B-band and H-band light curves provide di…
We present a comprehensive set of optical and near-infrared photometric and spectroscopic observations for SN 2014ck, extending from pre-maximum to six months later. These data indicate that SN 2014ck is photometrically nearly identical to SN 2002cx, which is the prototype of the class of peculiar transients named SNe Iax. Similar to SN 2002cx, SN 2014ck reached a peak brightness $M_B=-17.37 \pm 0.15$ mag, with a post-maximum decline-rate $Δm_{15} (B) = 1.76 \pm 0.15$ mag. However, the spectroscopic sequence shows similarities with SN 2008ha, which was three magnitudes fainter and faster decli…
The mergers of neutron stars (NSs) and white dwarfs (WDs) could give rise to explosive transients, potentially observable with current and future transient surveys. However, the expected properties and distribution of such events is not well understood. Here we characterize the rates of such events, their delay time distribution, their progenitors and the distribution of their properties. We use binary populations synthesis models and consider a wide range of initial conditions and physical processes. In particular we consider different common-envelope evolution models and different NS natal k…
