THE HIGH-METALLICITY EXPLOSION ENVIRONMENT OF THE RELATIVISTIC SUPERNOVA 2009bb

Journal Article · Wed Jan 20 00:00:00 EST 2010 · Astrophysical Journal Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/709/1/L26; COUNTRY OF INPUT: INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY (IAEA)· OSTI ID:21301401

Levesque, E M; Kewley, L J ^[1]; Soderberg, A M; Foley, R J; Berger, E; Torres, M A. P.; Challis, P; Kirshner, R P; Copete, A ^[2]; Chakraborti, S; Ray, A ^[3]; Barthelmy, S D ^[4]; Bietenholz, M F ^[5]; Chandra, P ^[6]; Chaplin, V; Connaughton, V ^[7]; Chevalier, R A; Fox, O ^[8]; Chugai, N ^[9]

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1. Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States)
2. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, MS-51, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)
3. Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai 400 005 (India)
4. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States)
5. Department of Physics and Astronomy, York University, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 (Canada)
6. Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston, ON K7K 784 (Canada)
7. University of Alabama, Huntsville, AL 35899 (United States)
8. University of Virginia, Department of Astronomy, P.O. Box 400325, Charlottesville, VA 22904 (United States)
9. Institute of Astronomy, RAS, Pyatnitskaya 48, Moscow 119017 (Russian Federation)

We investigate the environment of the nearby (d {approx} 40 Mpc) broad-lined Type Ic supernova (SN) 2009bb. This event was observed to produce a relativistic outflow likely powered by a central accreting compact object. While such a phenomenon was previously observed only in long-duration gamma-ray bursts (LGRBs), no LGRB was detected in association with SN 2009bb. Using an optical spectrum of the SN 2009bb explosion site, we determine a variety of interstellar medium properties for the host environment, including metallicity, young stellar population age, and star formation rate. We compare the SN explosion site properties to observations of LGRB and broad-lined SN Ic host environments on optical emission line ratio diagnostic diagrams. Based on these analyses, we find that the SN 2009bb explosion site has a metallicity between 1.7 Z {sub sun} and 3.5 Z {sub sun}, in agreement with other broad-lined SN Ic host environments and at odds with the low-redshift LGRB host environments and recently proposed maximum metallicity limits for relativistic explosions. We consider the implications of these findings and the impact that SN 2009bb's unusual explosive properties and environment have on our understanding of the key physical ingredient that enables some SNe to produce a relativistic outflow.

• OSTI ID: 21301401
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 709, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/709/1/L26; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 2041-8205
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS//MATHEMATICS, COMPUTING, AND INFORMATION SCIENCE
COSMIC GAMMA BURSTS
EXPLOSIONS
GALAXIES
RED SHIFT
RELATIVISTIC RANGE
SUPERNOVAE