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Slowly fading super-luminous supernovae that are not pair-instability explosions.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Nicholl, M; Smartt, SJ; Jerkstrand, A; Inserra, C; McCrum, M; Kotak, R; Fraser, M; Wright, D; Chen, T-W; Smith, K; Young, DR; Sim, SA ...
Published in: Nature
October 2013

Super-luminous supernovae that radiate more than 10(44) ergs per second at their peak luminosity have recently been discovered in faint galaxies at redshifts of 0.1-4. Some evolve slowly, resembling models of 'pair-instability' supernovae. Such models involve stars with original masses 140-260 times that of the Sun that now have carbon-oxygen cores of 65-130 solar masses. In these stars, the photons that prevent gravitational collapse are converted to electron-positron pairs, causing rapid contraction and thermonuclear explosions. Many solar masses of (56)Ni are synthesized; this isotope decays to (56)Fe via (56)Co, powering bright light curves. Such massive progenitors are expected to have formed from metal-poor gas in the early Universe. Recently, supernova 2007bi in a galaxy at redshift 0.127 (about 12 billion years after the Big Bang) with a metallicity one-third that of the Sun was observed to look like a fading pair-instability supernova. Here we report observations of two slow-to-fade super-luminous supernovae that show relatively fast rise times and blue colours, which are incompatible with pair-instability models. Their late-time light-curve and spectral similarities to supernova 2007bi call the nature of that event into question. Our early spectra closely resemble typical fast-declining super-luminous supernovae, which are not powered by radioactivity. Modelling our observations with 10-16 solar masses of magnetar-energized ejecta demonstrates the possibility of a common explosion mechanism. The lack of unambiguous nearby pair-instability events suggests that their local rate of occurrence is less than 6 × 10(-6) times that of the core-collapse rate.

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Published In

Nature

DOI

EISSN

1476-4687

ISSN

0028-0836

Publication Date

October 2013

Volume

502

Issue

7471

Start / End Page

346 / 349

Related Subject Headings

  • General Science & Technology
 

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ICMJE
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Nicholl, M., Smartt, S. J., Jerkstrand, A., Inserra, C., McCrum, M., Kotak, R., … Waters, C. (2013). Slowly fading super-luminous supernovae that are not pair-instability explosions. Nature, 502(7471), 346–349. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12569
Nicholl, M., S. J. Smartt, A. Jerkstrand, C. Inserra, M. McCrum, R. Kotak, M. Fraser, et al. “Slowly fading super-luminous supernovae that are not pair-instability explosions.Nature 502, no. 7471 (October 2013): 346–49. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12569.
Nicholl M, Smartt SJ, Jerkstrand A, Inserra C, McCrum M, Kotak R, et al. Slowly fading super-luminous supernovae that are not pair-instability explosions. Nature. 2013 Oct;502(7471):346–9.
Nicholl, M., et al. “Slowly fading super-luminous supernovae that are not pair-instability explosions.Nature, vol. 502, no. 7471, Oct. 2013, pp. 346–49. Epmc, doi:10.1038/nature12569.
Nicholl M, Smartt SJ, Jerkstrand A, Inserra C, McCrum M, Kotak R, Fraser M, Wright D, Chen T-W, Smith K, Young DR, Sim SA, Valenti S, Howell DA, Bresolin F, Kudritzki RP, Tonry JL, Huber ME, Rest A, Pastorello A, Tomasella L, Cappellaro E, Benetti S, Mattila S, Kankare E, Kangas T, Leloudas G, Sollerman J, Taddia F, Berger E, Chornock R, Narayan G, Stubbs CW, Foley RJ, Lunnan R, Soderberg A, Sanders N, Milisavljevic D, Margutti R, Kirshner RP, Elias-Rosa N, Morales-Garoffolo A, Taubenberger S, Botticella MT, Gezari S, Urata Y, Rodney S, Riess AG, Scolnic D, Wood-Vasey WM, Burgett WS, Chambers K, Flewelling HA, Magnier EA, Kaiser N, Metcalfe N, Morgan J, Price PA, Sweeney W, Waters C. Slowly fading super-luminous supernovae that are not pair-instability explosions. Nature. 2013 Oct;502(7471):346–349.
Journal cover image

Published In

Nature

DOI

EISSN

1476-4687

ISSN

0028-0836

Publication Date

October 2013

Volume

502

Issue

7471

Start / End Page

346 / 349

Related Subject Headings

  • General Science & Technology