EXPLAINING THE SUPERNOVA IMPOSTOR SN 2009ip AS MERGERBURST
- Department of Physics, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32000 (Israel)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 4505 S. Maryland Pkwy, Las Vegas, NV 89154-4002 (United States)
We propose that the energetic major outburst of the supernova (SN) impostor SN 2009ip in 2012 September (outburst 2012b) was a mergerburst event, where two massive stars merged. The previous outbursts of 2009 and 2011 might have occurred near periastron passages of the binary system prior to the merger, in a similar manner to the luminosity peaks in the 19th century Great Eruption of the massive binary system Eta Carinae. The major 2012b outburst and the 2012a pre-outburst resemble the light curve of the mergerburst event V838 Mon. A merger of an evolved star with a mass of M{sub 1} {approx} 60-100 M{sub Sun} and a secondary main-sequence star of M{sub 2} {approx} 0.2-0.5 M{sub 1} can account for the energy of SN 2009ip and for the high velocities of the ejected gas. The ejected nebula is expected to have a non-spherical structure, e.g., bipolar or even a more complicated morphology.
- OSTI ID:
- 22130923
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 764, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 2041-8205
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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