EARLY RADIO AND X-RAY OBSERVATIONS OF THE YOUNGEST NEARBY TYPE Ia SUPERNOVA PTF 11kly (SN 2011fe)

Journal Article · Fri Feb 10 00:00:00 EST 2012 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/746/1/21· OSTI ID:22011842

Horesh, Assaf; Kulkarni, S R; Carpenter, John; Kasliwal, Mansi M; Ofek, Eran O ^[1]; Fox, Derek B ^[2]; Quimby, Robert ^[3]; Gal-Yam, Avishay ^[4]; Cenko, S Bradley ^[5]; De Bruyn, A G ^[6]; Kamble, Atish; Van der Horst, Alexander J ^[7]; Kouveliotou, Chryssa ^[8]; Podsiadlowski, Philipp; Sullivan, Mark; Maguire, Kate ^[9]; Howell, D Andrew ^[10]; Nugent, Peter E ^[11]; Gehrels, Neil ^[12]; others, and

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1. Cahill Center for Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States)
2. Astronomy and Astrophysics, Eberly College of Science, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 (United States)
3. IPMU, University of Tokyo, Kashiwanoha 5-1-5, Kashiwa-shi, Chiba (Japan)
4. Benoziyo Center for Astrophysics, Faculty of Physics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100 (Israel)
5. Department of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3411 (United States)
6. Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON), Postbus 2, NL-7990 AA Dwingeloo (Netherlands)
7. Universities Space Research Association, NSSTC, Huntsville, AL 35805 (United States)
8. Space Science Office, VP-62, NASA-Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL 35805 (United States)
9. Department of Physics (Astrophysics), University of Oxford, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH (United Kingdom)
10. Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network, Santa Barbara, CA 93117 (United States)
11. Computational Cosmology Center, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States)
12. NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States)

On 2011 August 24 (UT) the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) discovered PTF11kly (SN 2011fe), the youngest and most nearby Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) in decades. We followed this event up in the radio (centimeter and millimeter bands) and X-ray bands, starting about a day after the estimated explosion time. We present our analysis of the radio and X-ray observations, yielding the tightest constraints yet placed on the pre-explosion mass-loss rate from the progenitor system of this supernova. We find a robust limit of M-dot {approx}<10{sup -8}(w/100 km s{sup -1}) M{sub sun} yr{sup -1} from sensitive X-ray non-detections, as well as a similar limit from radio data, which depends, however, on assumptions about microphysical parameters. We discuss our results in the context of single-degenerate models for SNe Ia and find that our observations modestly disfavor symbiotic progenitor models involving a red giant donor, but cannot constrain systems accreting from main-sequence or sub-giant stars, including the popular supersoft channel. In view of the proximity of PTF11kly and the sensitivity of our prompt observations, we would have to wait for a long time (a decade or longer) in order to more meaningfully probe the circumstellar matter of SNe Ia.

• OSTI ID: 22011842
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 746, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
EXPLOSIONS
GIANT STARS
STAR EVOLUTION
SUPERNOVAE
X RADIATION