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Title: ZTF 18aaqeasu (SN2018byg): A Massive Helium-shell Double Detonation on a Sub-Chandrasekhar-mass White Dwarf

Journal Article · · The Astrophysical Journal. Letters (Online)
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1];  [2]; ORCiD logo [2];  [3];  [1]; ORCiD logo [4];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [5];  [1];  [1];  [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1];  [1] more »; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [6];  [4]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [1] « less
  1. California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States)
  2. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  3. Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States)
  4. Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States)
  5. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD (United States); Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States)
  6. Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States); The Adler Planetarium, Chicago, IL (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

The detonation of a helium shell on a white dwarf (WD) has been proposed as a possible explosion triggering mechanism for SNe Ia. Here, we report ZTF 18aaqeasu (SN 2018byg/ATLAS 18pqq), a peculiar Type I supernova, consistent with being a helium-shell double-detonation. With a rise time of ≈18 days from explosion, the transient reached a peak absolute magnitude of M R ≈ -18.2 mag, exhibiting a light curve akin to sub-luminous SN 1991bg-like SNe Ia, albeit with an unusually steep increase in brightness within a week from explosion. Spectra taken near peak light exhibit prominent Si absorption features together with an unusually red color (g - r ≈ 2 mag) arising from nearly complete line blanketing of flux blueward of 5000 Å. This behavior is unlike any previously observed thermonuclear transient. Nebular phase spectra taken at and after ≈30 days from peak light reveal evidence of a thermonuclear detonation event dominated by Fe-group nucleosynthesis. We show that the peculiar properties of ZTF 18aaqeasu are consistent with the detonation of a massive (≈0.15 M⊙) helium shell on a sub-Chandrasekhar mass (≈0.75 ) WD after including mixing of ≈0.2 M⊙of material in the outer ejecta. Furthermore, these observations provide evidence of a likely rare class of thermonuclear supernovae arising from detonations of massive helium shells.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1526561
Journal Information:
The Astrophysical Journal. Letters (Online), Vol. 873, Issue 2; ISSN 2041-8213
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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Cited By (13)

Observational properties of thermonuclear supernovae journal August 2019
Evidence for Sub-Chandrasekhar Type Ia Supernovae from Stellar Abundances in Dwarf Galaxies journal August 2019
Double-detonation Models for Type Ia Supernovae: Trigger of Detonation in Companion White Dwarfs and Signatures of Companions’ Stripped-off Materials journal November 2019
Possible Contribution of Magnetized White Dwarf Binaries to Type Ia Supernova Populations journal November 2019
ZTF Early Observations of Type Ia Supernovae. I. Properties of the 2018 Sample journal December 2019
Remnants of Subdwarf Helium Donor Stars Ejected from Close Binaries with Thermonuclear Supernovae journal December 2019
Double Detonations with Thin, Modestly Enriched Helium Layers can Make Normal Type Ia Supernovae journal June 2019
SN2018kzr: A Rapidly Declining Transient from the Destruction of a White Dwarf journal October 2019
Double Detonations with Thin, Modestly Enriched Helium Layers Can Make Normal Type Ia Supernovae text January 2019
Remnants of Subdwarf Helium Donor Stars Ejected from Close Binaries with Thermonuclear Supernovae text January 2019
Double-Detonation Models for Type Ia Supernovae: Trigger of Detonation in Companion White Dwarfs and Signatures of Companions' Stripped-off Materials text January 2019
Possible Contribution of Magnetized White Dwarf Binaries to Type Ia Supernova Populations text January 2019
ZTF Early Observations of Type Ia Supernovae I: Properties of the 2018 Sample text January 2019

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Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
supernovae: general
supernovae: individual (SN2018byg)
surveys
white dwarf