SDWFS-MT-1: A SELF-OBSCURED LUMINOUS SUPERNOVA AT z {approx_equal} 0.2

Journal Article · Wed Oct 20 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/722/2/1624· OSTI ID:21464607

Kozlowski, Szymon; Kochanek, C S; Stanek, K Z; Thompson, T A; Assef, R J; Szczygiel, D M ^[1]; Stern, D; Griffith, R ^[2]; Prieto, J L ^[3]; Drake, A J; Harrison, F; Madsen, K ^[4]; Wozniak, P R ^[5]; Nugent, P ^[6]; Ashby, M L. N. ^[7]; Beshore, E; Larson, S ^[8]; Brown, M J. I. ^[9]; Dey, Arjun

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1. Department of Astronomy, The Ohio State University, 140 West 18th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210 (United States)
2. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States)
3. Carnegie Observatories, 813 Santa Barbara Street, Pasadena, CA 91101 (United States)
4. California Institute of Technology, 1200 E. California Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States)
5. Los Alamos National Laboratory, ISR-1, MS-D466, Los Alamos, NM 87545 (United States)
6. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States)
7. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)
8. Department of Planetary Sciences, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, The University of Arizona, 1629 E. University Blvd, Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States)
9. School of Physics, Monash University, Clayton 3800, Victoria (Australia)

We report the discovery of a 6 month long mid-infrared transient, SDWFS-MT-1 (aka SN 2007va), in the Spitzer Deep, Wide-Field Survey of the NOAO Deep Wide-Field Survey Booetes field. The transient, located in a z = 0.19 low-luminosity (M{sub [4.5]} {approx_equal} -18.6 mag, L/L{sub *} {approx_equal} 0.01) metal-poor (12 + log(O/H) {approx_equal} 7.8) irregular galaxy, peaked at a mid-infrared absolute magnitude of M{sub [4.5]} {approx_equal} -24.2 in the 4.5 {mu}m Spitzer/IRAC band and emitted a total energy of at least 10{sup 51} erg. The optical emission was likely fainter than the mid-infrared, although our constraints on the optical emission are poor because the transient peaked when the source was 'behind' the Sun. The Spitzer data are consistent with emission by a modified blackbody with a temperature of {approx}1350 K. We rule out a number of scenarios for the origin of the transient such as a Galactic star, active galactic nucleus activity, {gamma}-ray burst, tidal disruption of a star by a black hole, and gravitational lensing. The most plausible scenario is a supernova (SN) exploding inside a massive, optically thick circumstellar medium, composed of multiple shells of previously ejected material. If the proposed scenario is correct, then a significant fraction ({approx}10%) of the most luminous SN may be self-enshrouded by dust not only before but also after the SN occurs. The spectral energy distribution of the progenitor of such an SN would be a slightly cooler version of {eta} Carinae peaking at 20-30 {mu}m.

• OSTI ID: 21464607
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 722; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
BINARY STARS
BLACK HOLES
COSMIC GAMMA BURSTS
COSMIC RADIATION
DUSTS
ELEMENTS
EMISSION
ENERGY SPECTRA
ERUPTIVE VARIABLE STARS
GALAXIES
IONIZING RADIATIONS
LUMINOSITY
MAIN SEQUENCE STARS
METALS
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
PRIMARY COSMIC RADIATION
RADIATIONS
SPECTRA
STARS
SUN
SUPERNOVAE
VARIABLE STARS