Superluminous supernova progenitors have a half-solar metallicity threshold

Chen, Ting-Wan; Smartt, S. J.; Yates, Robert M.; Nicholl, M.; Krühler, T.; Schady, P.; Dennefeld, M.; Inserra, C.

doi:10.1093/mnras/stx1428

Cited by 92 publications

(92 citation statements)

References 69 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The host galaxy of DES16C2nm is not detected in any existing NIR catalogs, which is necessary to reliably constrain the continuum flux and metallicity at z=2. Despite this, these host-galaxy properties are consistent with the properties of other, lower-redshift SLSN-I host galaxies as seen in DES (Papadopoulos et al 2015;Smith et al 2016;Pan et al 2017) and in the literature (e.g., Neill et al 2011;Lunnan et al 2014;Leloudas et al 2015;Angus et al 2016;Perley et al 2016;Chen et al 2017). …”

Section: Observationssupporting

confidence: 88%

Studying the Ultraviolet Spectrum of the First Spectroscopically Confirmed Supernova at Redshift Two

Smith

Sullivan

Nichol

et al. 2018

ApJ

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We present observations of DES16C2nm, the first spectroscopically confirmed hydrogen-free superluminous supernova (SLSN-I) at redshift » z 2. DES16C2nm was discovered by the Dark Energy Survey (DES) Supernova Program, with follow-up photometric data from the Hubble Space Telescope, Gemini, and the European Southern Observatory Very Large Telescope supplementing the DES data. Spectroscopic observations confirm DES16C2nm to be at z=1.998, and spectroscopically similar to Gaia16apd (a SLSN-I at z=0.102), with a peak absolute magnitude of = - U 22.26 0.06. The high redshift of DES16C2nm provides a unique opportunity to study the ultraviolet (UV) properties of SLSNe-I. Combining DES16C2nm with 10 similar events from the literature, we show that there exists a homogeneous class of SLSNe

show abstract

Section: Observationssupporting

confidence: 88%

Studying the Ultraviolet Spectrum of the First Spectroscopically Confirmed Supernova at Redshift Two

Smith

Sullivan

Nichol

et al. 2018

ApJ

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This seems to argue against the consensus from several previous studies that almost all SLSNe-I occur in dwarf host galaxies with low metal abundances (M star 10 9.7 M e and Z ∼0.4 Z e ) (Lunnan et al 2014;Leloudas et al 2015;Perley et al 2016;Schulze et al 2018;Chen et al 2017b). SLSNe-I have been observed in high-mass hosts before, but only far from the center, and it has been argued that the metallicity at the SLSN site could still be low in these cases (Perley et al 2016).…”

Section: Introductioncontrasting

confidence: 72%

Far-UV HST Spectroscopy of an Unusual Hydrogen-poor Superluminous Supernova: SN2017egm

Yan

Perley

et al. 2018

ApJ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

SN2017egm is the closest (z=0.03) H-poor superluminous supernova (SLSN-I) detected to date, and a rare example of an SLSN-I in a massive, metal-rich galaxy. We present the HST UV and optical spectra covering 1000-5500 Å, taken at +3 day relative to the peak. Our data reveal two absorption systems at redshifts matching the host galaxy NGC 3191 (z=0.0307) and its companion galaxy (z=0.0299) 73″ apart. Weakly damped Lyα absorption lines are detected at these two redshifts, with H I column densities of (3.0±0.8)×1019 and (3.7±0.9)×1019 cm −2 , respectively. This is an order of magnitude smaller than the H I column densities in the disks of nearby galaxies (>10 10 M e ) and suggests that SN2017egm is on the near side of NGC 3191 and has a low host extinction (E(B−V )∼0.007). Using unsaturated metal absorption lines, we find that the host of SN2017egm probably has a solar or higher metallicity and is unlikely to be a dwarf companion to NGC 3191. Comparison of early-time UV spectra of SN2017egm, Gaia16apd, iPTF13ajg, and PTF12dam finds that the continuum at λ>2800 Å is well fit by a blackbody, whereas the continuum at λ<2800 Å is considerably below the model. The degree of UV suppression varies from source to source, with the 1400-2800 Å continuum flux ratio of 1.5 for Gaia16apd and 0.4 for iPTF13ajg. This cannot be explained by the differences in magnetar power or blackbody temperature. Finally, the UV spectra reveal a common set of seven broad absorption features and their equivalent widths are similar (within a factor of 2) among the four events.

show abstract

“…Intriguingly, a correlation between the magnetar initial spin and the host galaxy metallicity was found by Chen et al (2017). In Figure 15, we show these quantities for our SLSN data using the host metallicities derived in Perley et al (2016;PP04 N2 scale) and compare them to the correlation of Chen et al (2017).…”

Section: Magnetar Modelingmentioning

confidence: 78%

“…In Figure 15, we show these quantities for our SLSN data using the host metallicities derived in Perley et al (2016;PP04 N2 scale) and compare them to the correlation of Chen et al (2017). We cannot confirm the existence of such a correlation in the PTF sample, or at least we find a large scatter (more than a factor of 10) in the derived spin periods, for a similar metallicity range.…”

Section: Magnetar Modelingmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…Host-galaxy extinction is not considered. SLSN host galaxies tend to be faint and have low metallicity (Neill et al 2011;Leloudas et al 2015;Lunnan et al 2015;Perley et al 2016;Chen et al 2017;Schulze et al 2018), and therefore we expect them to have negligible dust extinction in the red bands, with possible regions that may be locally more dusty, affecting mostly the UV (e.g., Cikota et al 2017). On the other hand, SN Ib/c host galaxies can show significant extinction…”

Section: Foreground Dust Extinction and K-correctionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Light Curves of Hydrogen-poor Superluminous Supernovae from the Palomar Transient Factory

Gal‐Yam

Rubin

et al. 2018

ApJ

139

126

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We investigate the light-curve properties of a sample of 26 spectroscopically confirmed hydrogen-poor superluminous supernovae (SLSNe-I) in the Palomar Transient Factory survey. These events are brighter than SNe Ib/c and SNe Ic-BL, on average, by about 4 and 2mag, respectively. The peak absolute magnitudes of SLSNe-I in rest-frame g band span −22M g −20 mag, and these peaks are not powered by radioactive 56 Ni, unless strong asymmetries are at play. The rise timescales are longer for SLSNe than for normal SNe Ib/c, by roughly 10 days, for events with similar decay times. Thus, SLSNe-I can be considered as a separate population based on photometric properties. After peak, SLSNe-I decay with a wide range of slopes, with no obvious gap between rapidly declining and slowly declining events. The latter events show more irregularities (bumps) in the light curves at all times. At late times, the SLSN-I light curves slow down and cluster around the 56 Co radioactive decay rate. Powering the late-time light curves with radioactive decay would require between 1 and 10 M e of Ni masses. Alternatively, a simple magnetar model can reasonably fit the majority of SLSNe-I light curves, with four exceptions, and can mimic the radioactive decay of 56 Co, up to ∼400 days from explosion. The resulting spin values do not correlate with the host-galaxy metallicities. Finally, the analysis of our sample cannot strengthen the case for using SLSNe-I for cosmology.

show abstract

Superluminous supernova progenitors have a half-solar metallicity threshold

Cited by 92 publications

References 69 publications

Studying the Ultraviolet Spectrum of the First Spectroscopically Confirmed Supernova at Redshift Two

Studying the Ultraviolet Spectrum of the First Spectroscopically Confirmed Supernova at Redshift Two

Far-UV HST Spectroscopy of an Unusual Hydrogen-poor Superluminous Supernova: SN2017egm

Light Curves of Hydrogen-poor Superluminous Supernovae from the Palomar Transient Factory

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About