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Title: iPTF 16asu: A Luminous, Rapidly Evolving, and High-velocity Supernova

Journal Article · · The Astrophysical Journal (Online)
 [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [4]; ORCiD logo [5]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [6]; ORCiD logo [7]; ORCiD logo [8]; ORCiD logo [9]; ORCiD logo [8]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [10]; ORCiD logo [11]; ORCiD logo [12];  [13]; ORCiD logo [14] more »; ORCiD logo [15]; ORCiD logo [8]; ORCiD logo [7];  [8]; ORCiD logo [14];  [16] « less
  1. California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States). Dept. of Astronomy
  2. California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States). Dept. of Astronomy; Stockholm Univ. (Sweden). Oskar Klein Centre and Dept. of Astronomy
  3. Liverpool John Moores Univ., Liverpool (United Kingdom). Astrophysics Research Inst.
  4. Texas Tech Univ., Lubbock, TX (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
  5. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD (United States). Astrophysics Science Division; Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States). Joint Space-Science Inst.
  6. California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States). Jet Propulsion Lab.
  7. Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), St. Petersburg (Russian Federation). Ioffe Physical Technical Inst.
  8. Stockholm Univ. (Sweden). Oskar Klein Centre and Dept. of Astronomy
  9. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Space Sciences Lab.
  10. Weizmann Inst. of Science, Rehovot (Israel). Dept. of Particle Physics and Astrophysics; Univ. of Copenhagen (Denmark). The Niels Bohr Inst. and Dark Cosmology Centre
  11. California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States). Infrared Processing and Analysis Center
  12. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Astronomy
  13. Princeton Univ., NJ (United States). Dept. of Astrophysical Sciences
  14. Weizmann Inst. of Science, Rehovot (Israel). Dept. of Particle Physics and Astrophysics
  15. Univ. of Geneva (Switzerland). Integral Science Data Centre (ISDC) and Dept. of Astronomy
  16. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

Wide-field surveys are discovering a growing number of rare transients whose physical origin is not yet well understood. We present optical and UV data and analysis of intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (iPTF) 16asu, a luminous, rapidly evolving, high-velocity, stripped-envelope supernova (SN). With a rest-frame rise time of just four days and a peak absolute magnitude of Mg = -20.4 mag, the light curve of iPTF 16asu is faster and more luminous than that of previous rapid transients. The spectra of iPTF 16asu show a featureless blue continuum near peak that develops into an SN Ic-BL spectrum on the decline. We show that while the late-time light curve could plausibly be powered by 56Ni decay, the early emission requires a different energy source. Nondetections in the X-ray and radio strongly constrain the energy coupled to relativistic ejecta to be at most comparable to the class of low-luminosity gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). We suggest that the early emission may have been powered by either a rapidly spinning-down magnetar or by shock breakout in an extended envelope of a very energetic explosion. In either scenario a central engine is required, making iPTF 16asu an intriguing transition object between superluminous SNe, SNe Ic-BL, and low-luminosity GRBs.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR); National Science Foundation (NSF); National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); Russian Science Foundation (RSF)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231; 1545949; NNX16AN84G; 1455090; 17-12-01378
OSTI ID:
1456987
Journal Information:
The Astrophysical Journal (Online), Vol. 851, Issue 2; ISSN 1538-4357
Publisher:
Institute of Physics (IOP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 37 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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A very luminous magnetar-powered supernova associated with an ultra-long gamma-ray burst text January 2015
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Broad-lined type Ic supernova iPTF16asu: A challenge to all popular models journal August 2019
Hydrogen-poor Superluminous Supernovae from the Pan-STARRS1 Medium Deep Survey journal January 2018
An Embedded X-Ray Source Shines through the Aspherical AT 2018cow: Revealing the Inner Workings of the Most Luminous Fast-evolving Optical Transients journal February 2019
SN 2017czd: A Rapidly Evolving Supernova from a Weak Explosion of a Type IIb Supernova Progenitor journal April 2019
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Hydrogen-Poor Superluminous Supernovae from the Pan-STARRS1 Medium Deep Survey text January 2017
Rapidly evolving transients in the Dark Energy Survey text January 2018
The Fast, Luminous Ultraviolet Transient AT2018cow: Extreme Supernova, or Disruption of a Star by an Intermediate-Mass Black Hole? text January 2018
Photospheric Radius Evolution of Homologous Explosions text January 2018
SN 2017czd: A Rapidly Evolving Supernova from a Weak Explosion of a Type IIb Supernova Progenitor text January 2019
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Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
supernovae
iPRF16asu
gamma-ray burst
magnetars
shock waves