A type Ia supernova at the heart of superluminous transient SN 2006gy

Jerkstrand, Anders; Maeda, Keiichi; Kawabata, Koji S.

doi:10.1126/science.aaw1469

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A type Ia supernova at the heart of superluminous transient SN 2006gy

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Jerkstrand, Anders
Stellar Astrophysics, MPI for Astrophysics, Max Planck Society;

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Citation

Jerkstrand, A., Maeda, K., & Kawabata, K. S. (2020). A type Ia supernova at the heart of superluminous transient SN 2006gy. Science, 367(6467), 415-418. doi:10.1126/science.aaw1469.

Cite as: https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-0005-D501-9

Abstract

Superluminous supernovae radiate up to 100 times more energy than normal supernovae. The origin of
this energy and the nature of the stellar progenitors of these transients are poorly understood. We
identify neutral iron lines in the spectrum of one such supernova, SN 2006gy, and show that they require
a large mass of iron (≳0.3 solar masses) expanding at 1500 kilometers per second. By modeling a
standard type Ia supernova hitting a shell of circumstellar material, we produce a light curve and
late-time iron-dominated spectrum that match the observations of SN 2006gy. In such a scenario, common
envelope evolution of a progenitor binary system can synchronize envelope ejection and supernova
explosion and may explain these bright transients.