skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Nebular Models of Sub-Chandrasekhar Mass Type Ia Supernovae: Clues to the Origin of Ca-rich Transients

Journal Article · · The Astrophysical Journal (Online)
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1];  [1]
  1. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

In this work we use non-local thermal equilibrium radiative transport modeling to examine observational signatures of sub-Chandrasekhar mass double detonation explosions in the nebular phase. Results range from spectra that look like typical and subluminous Type Ia supernovae (SNe) for higher mass progenitors to spectra that look like Ca-rich transients for lower mass progenitors. This ignition mechanism produces an inherent relationship between emission features and the progenitor mass as the ratio of the nebular [Ca II]/[Fe III] emission lines increases with decreasing white dwarf mass. Examining the [Ca II]/[Fe III] nebular line ratio in a sample of observed SNe we find further evidence for the two distinct classes of SNe Ia identified in Polin et al. by their relationship between Si ii velocity and B-band magnitude, both at time of peak brightness. This suggests that SNe Ia arise from more than one progenitor channel, and provides an empirical method for classifying events based on their physical origin. Furthermore, we provide insight to the mysterious origin of Ca-rich transients. Low-mass double detonation models with only a small mass fraction of Ca (1%) produce nebular spectra that cool primarily through forbidden [Ca II] emission.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR). Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing (SciDAC); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Nuclear Physics (NP); Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231; SC0017616; SC0018297; GBMF5076; KA2401022
OSTI ID:
1574353
Journal Information:
The Astrophysical Journal (Online), Vol. 906, Issue 1; ISSN 1538-4357
Publisher:
Institute of Physics (IOP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (58)

The Canarias Type I[CLC]a[/CLC] Supernova Archive. II. A Standard Spectral Evolution Sequence journal March 1998
Accreting white dwarf models of Type I supernovae. III - Carbon deflagration supernovae journal November 1984
Type Ia supernova SN 2003du: Optical observations journal December 2004
Double Detonations with Thin, Modestly Enriched Helium Layers can Make Normal Type Ia Supernovae journal June 2019
The detonation of a sub-Chandrasekhar-mass white dwarf at the origin of the low-luminosity Type Ia supernova 1999by journal November 2017
Nebular Velocities in Type I[CLC]a[/CLC] Supernovae and Their Relationship to Light Curves journal May 1998
Sub-Chandrasekhar-mass White Dwarf Detonations Revisited journal February 2018
Optical and Near‐Infrared Observations of the Highly Reddened, Rapidly Expanding Type Ia Supernova SN 2006X in M100 journal March 2008
Two New Calcium-rich Gap Transients in Group and Cluster Environments journal February 2017
Optical and ultraviolet spectroscopic analysis of SN 2011fe at late times journal January 2017
Successive detonations in accreting white dwarfs as an alternative mechanism for type I supernovae journal May 1990
Berkeley Supernova Ia Program - I. Observations, data reduction and spectroscopic sample of 582 low-redshift Type Ia supernovae: BSNIP I: SN Ia spectra journal August 2012
The Unique Type Ia Supernova 2000cx in NGC 524
  • Li, Weidong; Filippenko, Alexei V.; Gates, Elinor
  • Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Vol. 113, Issue 788 https://doi.org/10.1086/323355
journal October 2001
The properties of the peculiar type Ia supernova 1991bg -- I. Analysis and discussion of two years of observations journal October 1996
ZTF 18aaqeasu (SN2018byg): A Massive Helium-shell Double Detonation on a Sub-Chandrasekhar-mass White Dwarf journal March 2019
Optical Spectra of the Type Ia Supernova 1998aq journal September 2003
Anomalous extinction behaviour towards the Type Ia SN 2003cg: Supernova 2003cg journal June 2006
Three Hypervelocity White Dwarfs in Gaia DR2: Evidence for Dynamically Driven Double-degenerate Double-detonation Type Ia Supernovae journal September 2018
Sub-Chandrasekhar mass models for Type IA supernovae journal March 1994
THE SPECTROSCOPIC DIVERSITY OF TYPE Ia SUPERNOVAE journal April 2012
Optical and infrared observations of SN 2002dj: some possible common properties of fast-expanding Type Ia supernovae journal August 2008
Spectroscopy of the type Ia supernova SN 2002er: Days –11 to +215 journal June 2005
SPECTROSCOPY OF TYPE Ia SUPERNOVAE BY THE CARNEGIE SUPERNOVA PROJECT journal July 2013
An Open Catalog for Supernova Data journal January 2017
Faint Thermonuclear Supernovae from AM Canum Venaticorum Binaries journal June 2007
One-dimensional non-LTE time-dependent radiative transfer of an He-detonation model and the connection to faint and fast-decaying supernovae journal December 2014
Accreting white dwarf models for type 1 supernovae. II - Off-center detonation supernovae journal June 1982
Castro: a new Compressible Astrophysical Solver. i. Hydrodynamics and Self-Gravity journal May 2010
The Ignition of Carbon Detonations via Converging Shock Waves in White Dwarfs journal March 2014
The nebular spectra of the Type Ia supernova 1991bg: further evidence of a non-standard explosion: The nebular spectra of SN 1991bg journal July 2012
Late emission from supernovae - A window on stellar nucleosynthesis journal August 1989
The progenitor mass of the Type IIP supernova SN 2004et from late-time spectral modeling journal October 2012
OPTICAL SPECTROSCOPY OF TYPE Ia SUPERNOVAE journal March 2008
Accreting white dwarf models for type I supernovae. I - Presupernova evolution and triggering mechanisms journal February 1982
The normal Type Ia SN 2003hv out to very late phases journal July 2009
The Luminosity of SN 1999by in NGC 2841 and the Nature of “Peculiar” Type Ia Supernovae journal October 2004
Double-detonation sub-Chandrasekhar supernovae: can minimum helium shell masses detonate the core? journal May 2010
A massive star origin for an unusual helium-rich supernova in an elliptical galaxy journal May 2010
Type Ia supernovae with bimodal explosions are common – possible smoking gun for direct collisions of white dwarfs journal October 2015
WISeREP—An Interactive Supernova Data Repository journal July 2012
Calcium-Rich gap Transients in the Remote Outskirts of Galaxies journal August 2012
ESC and KAIT observations of the transitional Type Ia SN 2004eo journal June 2007
A faint type of supernova from a white dwarf with a helium-rich companion journal May 2010
The Progenitors of Calcium-strong Transients journal December 2019
Double-detonation supernovae of sub-Chandrasekhar mass white dwarfs journal October 2007
HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE AND GROUND-BASED OBSERVATIONS OF THE TYPE Iax SUPERNOVAE SN 2005hk AND SN 2008A journal April 2014
Nebular spectra and abundance tomography of the Type Ia supernova SN 2011fe: a normal SN Ia with a stable Fe core journal May 2015
Observational Predictions for Sub-Chandrasekhar Mass Explosions: Further Evidence for Multiple Progenitor Systems for Type Ia Supernovae journal March 2019
THE GOLDEN STANDARD TYPE Ia SUPERNOVA 2005cf: OBSERVATIONS FROM THE ULTRAVIOLET TO THE NEAR-INFRARED WAVEBANDS journal May 2009
Time‐dependent Monte Carlo Radiative Transfer Calculations for Three‐dimensional Supernova Spectra, Light Curves, and Polarization journal November 2006
Detonations in Sub-Chandrasekhar-Mass c+o White Dwarfs journal April 2010
How Do Type Ia Supernova Nebular Spectra Depend on Explosion Properties? Insights from Systematic Non-LTE Modeling journal August 2017
An Empirical Fitting Method to Type Ia Supernova Light Curves. III. A Three-parameter Relationship: Peak Magnitude, Rise Time, and Photospheric Velocity journal May 2018
CfA3: 185 TYPE Ia SUPERNOVA LIGHT CURVES FROM THE CfA journal July 2009
Sub-Chandrasekhar progenitors favoured for type Ia supernovae: Evidence from late-time spectroscopy★. journal November 2019
Exploring the spectral diversity of low-redshift Type Ia supernovae using the Palomar Transient Factory journal September 2014
Linear spectropolarimetry of 35 Type Ia supernovae with VLT/FORS: an analysis of the Si ii line polarization journal August 2019
The template type Ia supernova 1996X journal February 2001

Similar Records

The Origin and Evolution of the Normal Type Ia SN 2018aoz with Infant-phase Reddening and Excess Emission
Journal Article · Tue Mar 21 00:00:00 EDT 2023 · The Astrophysical Journal · OSTI ID:1574353
+40 more
NEBULAR SPECTRA AND EXPLOSION ASYMMETRY OF TYPE Ia SUPERNOVAE
Journal Article · Sun Jan 10 00:00:00 EST 2010 · Astrophysical Journal · OSTI ID:1574353
+4 more
The Spectacular Ultraviolet Flash from the Peculiar Type Ia Supernova 2019yvq
Journal Article · Thu Jul 23 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · The Astrophysical Journal (Online) · OSTI ID:1574353
+42 more

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
supernovae: general
radiative transfer
hydrodynamics
methods: numerical