77 results on '"M. M. Kasliwal"'
Search Results
2. Identification of a Local Sample of Gamma-Ray Bursts Consistent with a Magnetar Giant Flare Origin
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E Burns, D Svinkin, K Hurley, Z Wadiasingh, M Negro, G Younes, R Hamburg, A Ridnaia, D Cook, S B Cenko, R Aloisi, G Ashton, M Baring, M S Briggs, N Christensen, D Frederiks, A Goldstein, C M Hui, D L Kaplan, M M Kasliwal, D Kocevski, O J Roberts, V Savchenko, A Tohuvavohu, P Veres, and C A Wilson-Hodge
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Astronomy - Abstract
Cosmological gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are known to arise from distinct progenitor channels: short GRBs mostly from neutron star mergers and long GRBs from a rare type of core-collapse supernova (CCSN) called collapsars. Highly magnetized neutron stars called magnetars also generate energetic, short-duration gamma-ray transients called magnetar giant flares (MGFs). Three have been observed from the Milky Way and its satellite galaxies, and they have long been suspected to constitute a third class of extragalactic GRBs. We report the unambiguous identification of a distinct population of four local (<5 Mpc) short GRBs, adding GRB 070222 to previously discussed events. While identified solely based on alignment with nearby star-forming galaxies, their rise time and isotropic energy release are independently inconsistent with the larger short GRB population at >99.9% confidence. These properties, the host galaxies, and non-detection in gravitational waves all point to an extragalactic MGF origin. Despite the small sample, the inferred volumetric rates for events above 4 × 10(exp 44) erg of R(sub MGF) =3.8(sup +4.0)(sub -3.1) ×10(exp 5) Gpc(exp -3) yr(exp -1) make MGFs the dominant gamma-ray transient detected from extragalactic sources. As previously suggested, these rates imply that some magnetars produce multiple MGFs, providing a source of repeating GRBs. The rates and host galaxies favor common CCSN as key progenitors of magnetars.
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- 2021
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3. Spectroscopy of the first resolved strongly lensed Type Ia supernova iPTF16geu
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J Johansson, A Goobar, S H Price, A Sagués Carracedo, L Della Bruna, P E Nugent, S Dhawan, E Mörtsell, S Papadogiannakis, R Amanullah, D Goldstein, S B Cenko, K De, A Dugas, M M Kasliwal, S R Kulkarni, and R Lunnan
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Astronomy ,Astrophysics - Abstract
We report the results from spectroscopic observations of the multiple images of the strongly lensed Type Ia supernova (SN Ia), iPTF16geu, obtained with ground-based telescopes and the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). From a single epoch of slitless spectroscopy with HST, we resolve spectra of individual lensed supernova images for the first time. This allows us to perform an independent measurement of the time-delay between the two brightest images, Δt = 1.4 ± 5.0 d, which is consistent with the time-delay measured from the light curves. We also present measurements of narrow emission and absorption lines characterizing the interstellar medium in the SN Ia host galaxy at z = 0.4087, as well as in the foreground lensing galaxy at z = 0.2163. We detect strong Na ID absorption in the host galaxy, indicating that iPTF16geu belongs to a subclass of SNe Ia displaying ‘anomalously’ large Na ID column densities compared to dust extinction derived from light curves. For the lens galaxy, we refine the measurement of the velocity dispersion, σ = 129 ± 4 km/s, which significantly constrains the lens model. We use ground-based spectroscopy, boosted by a factor ∼70 from lensing magnification, to study the properties of a high-z SN Ia with unprecedented signal-to-noise ratio. The spectral properties of the supernova, such as pseudo-Equivalent widths of several absorption features and velocities of the Si II-line, indicate that iPTF16geu is a normal SN Ia. We do not detect any significant deviations of the SN spectral energy distribution from microlensing of the SN photosphere by stars and compact objects in the lensing galaxy.
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- 2020
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4. The Zwicky Transient Facility Bright Transient Survey. I. Spectroscopic Classification and the Redshift Completeness of Local Galaxy Catalogs
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C. Fremling, A. A. Miller, Y. Sharma, Alison Dugas, D. A. Perley, K. Taggart, J. Sollerman, A. Goobar, M. L. Graham, J. D. Neill, J. Nordin, M. Rigault, R. Walters, I. Andreoni, A. Bagdasaryan, J. Belicki, C. Cannella, E. C. Bellm, S. B. Cenko, K. De, R. Dekany, Sara Frederick, V. Z. Golkhou, M. J. Graham, G. Helou, A. Y. Q. Ho, M. M. Kasliwal, T. Kupfer, R. R. Laher, A. Mahabal, F. J. Masci, R. Riddle, B. Rusholme, S. Schulze, D. L. Shupe, R. M. Smith, S. van Velzen, L. Yan, Y. Yao, Z. Zhuang, and S. R. Kulkarni
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Astrophysics ,Astronomy - Abstract
The Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) is performing a three-day cadence survey of the visible northern sky (∼3π) with newly found transient candidates announced via public alerts. The ZTF Bright Transient Survey (BTS) is a large spectroscopic campaign to complement the photometric survey. BTS endeavors to spectroscopically classify all extragalactic transients with m(peak) ≤ 18.5 mag in either the g(ZTF) or r(ZTF) filters, and publicly announce said classifications. BTS discoveries are predominantly supernovae (SNe), making this the largest flux-limited SN survey to date. Here we present a catalog of 761 SNe, classified during the first nine months of ZTF (2018 April 1–2018 December 31). We report BTS SN redshifts from SN template matching and spectroscopic host-galaxy redshifts when available. We analyze the redshift completeness of local galaxy catalogs, the redshift completeness fraction (RCF; the ratio of SN host galaxies with known spectroscopic redshift prior to SN discovery to the total number of SN hosts). Of the 512 host galaxies with SNe Ia, 227 had previously known spectroscopic redshifts, yielding an RCF estimate of 44% ± 4%. The RCF decreases with increasing distance and decreasing galaxy luminosity (for z < 0.05, or ∼200 Mpc, RCF ≈ 0.6). Prospects for dramatically increasing the RCF are limited to new multifiber spectroscopic instruments or wide-field narrowband surveys. Existing galaxy redshift catalogs are only ∼50% complete at r ≈ 16.9 mag. Pushing this limit several magnitudes deeper will pay huge dividends when searching for electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational wave events or sources of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays or neutrinos.
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- 2020
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5. The volumetric rate of normal type Ia supernovae in the local Universe discovered by the Palomar Transient Factory
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C. Frohmaier, M Sullivan, P E Nugent, M Smith, G Dimitriadis, J S Bloom, S B Cenko, M M Kasliwal, S R Kulkarni, K. Maguire, E O Ofek, D Poznanski, and R M Quimby
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Astronomy - Abstract
We present the volumetric rate of normal type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) discovered by the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF). Using strict data-quality cuts, and considering only periods when the PTF maintained a regular cadence, PTF discovered 90 SNe Ia at z ≤ 0.09 in a well-controlled sample over three years of operation (2010–2012). We use this to calculate the volumetric rate of SN Ia events by comparing this sample to simulations of hundreds of millions of SN Ia light curves produced in statistically representative realizations of the PTF survey. This quantifies the recovery efficiency of each PTF SN Ia event, and thus the relative weighting of each event. From this, the volumetric SN Ia rate was found to be r(v) = 2.43 ± 0.29 (stat)(+0.33,−0.19)(sys) × 10^(−5) SNe per yr Mpc^(-3) h(3,70). This represents the most precise local measurement of the SNIa rate. We fit a simple SNIa delay-time distribution model, ∝ t^(−β) , to our PTF rate measurement combined with a literature sample of rate measurements from surveys at higher redshifts. We find β ∼ 1, consistent with a progenitor channel governed by the gravitational inspiral of binary white dwarfs.
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- 2019
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6. Carnegie Supernova Project-II: Near-infrared Spectroscopy of Stripped-envelope Core-collapse Supernovae
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M. Shahbandeh, E. Y. Hsiao, C. Ashall, J. Teffs, P. Hoeflich, N. Morrell, M. M. Phillips, J. P. Anderson, E. Baron, C. R. Burns, C. Contreras, S. Davis, T. R. Diamond, G. Folatelli, L. Galbany, C. Gall, S. Hachinger, S. Holmbo, E. Karamehmetoglu, M. M. Kasliwal, R. P. Kirshner, K. Krisciunas, S. Kumar, J. Lu, G. H. Marion, P. A. Mazzali, A. L. Piro, D. J. Sand, M. D. Stritzinger, N. B. Suntzeff, F. Taddia, S. A. Uddin, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (US), Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (España), Villum Fonden, National Science Foundation (US), Heising Simons Foundation, and Independent Research Fund Denmark
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE) ,Supernovae ,Type Ib supernovae ,Space and Planetary Science ,Core-collapse supernovae ,FOS: Physical sciences ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,Galactic and extragalactic astronomy ,Type Ic supernovae ,Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena - Abstract
We present 75 near-infrared (NIR; 0.8-2.5 μm) spectra of 34 stripped-envelope core-collapse supernovae (SESNe) obtained by the Carnegie Supernova Project-II (CSP-II), encompassing optical spectroscopic Types IIb, Ib, Ic, and Ic-BL. The spectra range in phase from pre-maximum to 80 days past maximum. This unique data set constitutes the largest NIR spectroscopic sample of SESNe to date. NIR spectroscopy provides observables with additional information that is not available in the optical. Specifically, the NIR contains the strong lines of He i and allows a more detailed look at whether Type Ic supernovae are completely stripped of their outer He layer. The NIR spectra of SESNe have broad similarities, but closer examination through statistical means reveals a strong dichotomy between NIR "He-rich"and "He-poor"SNe. These NIR subgroups correspond almost perfectly to the optical IIb/Ib and Ic/Ic-BL types, respectively. The largest difference between the two groups is observed in the 2 μm region, near the He i λ2.0581 μm line. The division between the two groups is not an arbitrary one along a continuous sequence. Early spectra of He-rich SESNe show much stronger He i λ2.0581 μm absorption compared to the He-poor group, but with a wide range of profile shapes. The same line also provides evidence for trace amounts of He in half of our SNe in the He-poor group., AST-1008343, AST-1613426, AST-1613455, and AST-1613472. C.A. is supported by NASA grant No. 80NSSC19K1717 and NSF grant Nos. AST-1920392 and AST-1911074. J.T. is funded by the consolidated STFC grant No. R276106. L.G. acknowledges financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MICIU) under the 2019 Ramón y Cajal program RYC2019-027683 and from the Spanish MICIU project PID2020-115253GA-I00. C.G. is supported by a Young Investor Grant (25501) from the VILLUM FONDEN. Time domain research by D.J.S. is also supported by NSF grant Nos. AST-1821987, 1813466, 1908972, & 2108032, and by the Heising-Simons Foundation under grant #2020-1864. M.D.S. is supported by grants from the VILLUM FONDEN (grant No. 28021) and the Independent Research Fund Denmark (IRFD; 8021-00170B).
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- 2022
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7. A WC/WO star exploding within an expanding carbon–oxygen–neon nebula
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A. Gal-Yam, R. Bruch, S. Schulze, Y. Yang, D. A. Perley, I. Irani, J. Sollerman, E. C. Kool, M. T. Soumagnac, O. Yaron, N. L. Strotjohann, E. Zimmerman, C. Barbarino, S. R. Kulkarni, M. M. Kasliwal, K. De, Y. Yao, C. Fremling, L. Yan, E. O. Ofek, C. Fransson, A. V. Filippenko, W. Zheng, T. G. Brink, C. M. Copperwheat, R. J. Foley, J. Brown, M. Siebert, G. Leloudas, A. L. Cabrera-Lavers, D. Garcia-Alvarez, A. Marante-Barreto, S. Frederick, T. Hung, J. C. Wheeler, J. Vinkó, B. P. Thomas, M. J. Graham, D. A. Duev, A. J. Drake, R. Dekany, E. C. Bellm, B. Rusholme, D. L. Shupe, I. Andreoni, Y. Sharma, R. Riddle, J. van Roestel, and N. Knezevic
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE) ,Multidisciplinary ,Astrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena ,FOS: Physical sciences ,Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics ,Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies ,Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics ,Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA) ,Astrophysics::Solar and Stellar Astrophysics ,Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena ,Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR) ,QC ,Astrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysics ,QB - Abstract
The final explosive fate of massive stars, and the nature of the compact remnants they leave behind (black holes and neutron stars), are major open questions in astrophysics. Many massive stars are stripped of their outer hydrogen envelopes as they evolve. Such Wolf-Rayet (W-R) stars emit strong and rapidly expanding (v_wind>1000 km/s) winds indicating a high escape velocity from the stellar surface. A fraction of this population is also helium depleted, with spectra dominated by highly-ionized emission lines of carbon and oxygen (Types WC/WO). Evidence indicates that the most commonly-observed supernova (SN) explosions that lack hydrogen and helium (Types Ib/Ic) cannot result from massive WC/WO stars, leading some to suggest that most such stars collapse directly into black holes without a visible supernova explosions. Here, we present observations of supernova SN 2019hgp, discovered about a day after explosion. The short rise time and rapid decline place it among an emerging population of rapidly-evolving transients (RETs). Spectroscopy reveals a rich set of emission lines indicating that the explosion occurred within a nebula composed of carbon, oxygen, and neon. Narrow absorption features show that this material is expanding at relatively high velocities (>1500 km/s) requiring a compact progenitor. Our observations are consistent with an explosion of a massive WC/WO star, and suggest that massive W-R stars may be the progenitors of some rapidly evolving transients., Unedited author version, Nature in press
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- 2022
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8. SN 2020qlb: A hydrogen-poor superluminous supernova with well-characterized light curve undulations
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S. L. West, R. Lunnan, C. M. B. Omand, T. Kangas, S. Schulze, N. L. Strotjohann, S. Yang, C. Fransson, J. Sollerman, D. Perley, L. Yan, T.-W. Chen, Z. H. Chen, K. Taggart, C. Fremling, J. S. Bloom, A. Drake, M. J. Graham, M. M. Kasliwal, R. Laher, M. S. Medford, J. D. Neill, R. Riddle, and D. Shupe
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE) ,Space and Planetary Science ,Astrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena ,FOS: Physical sciences ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena - Abstract
SN\,2020qlb (ZTF20abobpcb) is a hydrogen-poor superluminous supernova (SLSN-I) that is among the most luminous (maximum M$_{g} = -22.25$ mag) and that has one of the longest rise times (77 days from explosion to maximum). We estimate the total radiated energy to be $>2.1\times10^{51}$ erg. SN\,2020qlb has a well-sampled light curve that exhibits clear near and post peak undulations, a phenomenon seen in other SLSNe, whose physical origin is still unknown. We discuss the potential power source of this immense explosion as well as the mechanisms behind its observed light curve undulations. We analyze photospheric spectra and compare them to other SLSNe-I. We constructed the bolometric light curve using photometry from a large data set of observations from the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF), Liverpool Telescope (LT), and Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory and compare it with radioactive, circumstellar interaction and magnetar models. Model residuals and light curve polynomial fit residuals are analyzed to estimate the undulation timescale and amplitude. We also determine host galaxy properties based on imaging and spectroscopy data, including a detection of the [O III]$\lambda$4363, auroral line, allowing for a direct metallicity measurement. We rule out the Arnett $^{56}$Ni decay model for SN\,2020qlb's light curve due to unphysical parameter results. Our most favored power source is the magnetic dipole spin-down energy deposition of a magnetar. Two to three near peak oscillations, intriguingly similar to those of SN\,2015bn, were found in the magnetar model residuals with a timescale of $32\pm6$ days and an amplitude of 6$\%$ of peak luminosity. We rule out centrally located undulation sources due to timescale considerations; and we favor the result of ejecta interactions with circumstellar material (CSM) density fluctuations as the source of the undulations., Comment: 22 pages, 25 figures, submitted to A&A
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- 2023
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9. The dawn of a new era for dustless HdC stars withGaiaeDR3
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P. Tisserand, C. L. Crawford, G. C. Clayton, A. J. Ruiter, V. Karambelkar, M. S. Bessell, I. R. Seitenzahl, M. M. Kasliwal, J. Soon, and T. Travouillon
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Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics ,Space and Planetary Science ,Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA) ,FOS: Physical sciences ,Astrophysics::Solar and Stellar Astrophysics ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,Astrophysics::Earth and Planetary Astrophysics ,Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics ,Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies ,Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR) ,Astrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysics - Abstract
Decades after their discovery, only four hydrogen-deficient carbon (HdC) stars were known to have no circumstellar dust shell. This is in complete contrast to the $\sim$130 known Galactic HdC stars that are notorious for being heavy dust producers, i.e. the R Coronae Borealis (RCB) stars. Together they form a rare class of supergiant stars that are thought to originate from the merger of CO/He white dwarf binary systems, otherwise known as the double-degenerate scenario. We searched for new dustless HdC (dLHdC) stars. We used primarily the 2MASS and GAIA eDR3 catalogues to select candidates that were followed-up spectroscopically. We discovered 27 new dLHdC stars, one new RCB star and two new EHe stars. Surprisingly, 20 of the new dLHdC stars share a characteristic of the known dLHdC star HD 148839, having lower atmospheric hydrogen deficiencies. The uncovered population of dLHdC stars exhibit a Bulge-like distribution, like the RCB stars, but show multiple differences from those that indicate they are a different population of HdC stars following its own evolutionary sequence with a fainter luminosity and also a narrow range of effective temperature. We found indication of a current low dust production activity for four of the new dLHdC stars which could be typical RCB stars passing through a transition time. We have evidence for the first time of a large range of absolute magnitudes in the overall population of HdC stars, spanning over 3 mag. In the favoured formation framework, this is explained by a large range in the initial total WD binary mass which leads to a series of evolutionary sequences with distinct maximum brightness and initial temperature. The cold Galactic RCB stars are also noticeably fainter than the Magellanic ones, possibly due to a difference in metallicity resulting in different WD mass ratio. In our Galaxy, there could be as many dLHdC stars as RCB stars., 22 pages, 18 figures, accepted in A&A. V3: minor corrections on Table 2 and 3 related to HD stars names and (V-I)0 colours (Fig.10 changed accordingly). V4: changed the colour to light blue for the two new EHe stars indicated in Fig.10, page 13
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- 2022
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10. R Coronae Borealis and dustless hydrogen-deficient carbon stars likely have different oxygen isotope ratios
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V. Karambelkar, M. M. Kasliwal, P. Tisserand, G. C. Clayton, C. L. Crawford, S. G. Anand, T. R. Geballe, and E. Montiel
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Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics ,Space and Planetary Science ,Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA) ,FOS: Physical sciences ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies ,Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR) - Abstract
R Coronae Borealis (RCB) and dustless Hydrogen-deficient Carbon (dLHdC) stars are believed to be remnants of low mass white dwarf mergers. These supergiant stars have peculiar hydrogen-deficient carbon-rich chemistries and stark overabundances of $^{18}$O. RCB stars undergo dust formation episodes resulting in large-amplitude photometric variations that are not seen in dLHdC stars. Recently, the sample of known dLHdC stars in the Milky Way has more than quintupled with the discovery of 27 new dLHdC stars. We present medium resolution (R$\approx3000$) near-infrared spectra of 20 newly discovered dLHdC stars. We confirm that unlike RCB stars, dLHdC stars do not show strong blueshifted ($>200$ km s$^{-1}$) He I 1.0833 $μ$m absorption, suggesting the absence of strong, dust-driven winds around them. We also present medium resolution (R$\approx3000-8000$) $K$-band spectra for 47 RCB stars. We measure the $^{16}$O/$^{18}$O ratios of 7 dLHdC and 31 RCB stars that show $^{12}$C$^{16}$O and $^{12}$C$^{18}$O absorption bands, and present the largest sample of values of $^{16}$O/$^{18}$O for dLHdC and RCB stars to date. We find that six of the seven dLHdC stars have $^{16}$O/$^{18}$O $1$. We conclude that most dLHdC stars have lower $^{16}$O/$^{18}$O than most RCB stars. This confirms one of the first spectroscopic differences between RCB and dLHdC stars. Our results rule out the existing picture that RCB stars represent an evolved stage of dLHdC stars. Instead, we suggest that whether the white dwarf merger remnant is a dLHdC or RCB star depends on the mass ratios, masses and compositions of the merging white dwarfs., Submitted to A&A, 9 pages, 4 figures
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- 2022
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11. AT2018lqh and the nature of the emerging population of day-scale duration optical transients
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E. O. Ofek, S. M. Adams, E. Waxman, A. Sharon, D. Kushnir, A. Horesh, A. Ho, M. M. Kasliwal, O. Yaron, A. Gal-Yam, S. R. Kulkarni, E. Bellm, F. Masci, D. Shupe, R. Dekany, M. Graham, R. Riddle, D. Duev, I. Andreoni, A. Mahabal, and A. Drake
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE) ,010308 nuclear & particles physics ,13. Climate action ,Space and Planetary Science ,0103 physical sciences ,FOS: Physical sciences ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena ,010303 astronomy & astrophysics ,01 natural sciences ,7. Clean energy - Abstract
We report on the discovery of AT2018lqh (ZTF18abfzgpl) -- a rapidly-evolving extra-galactic transient in a star-forming host at 242 Mpc. The transient g-band light curve's duration above half-maximum light is about 2.1 days, where 0.4/1.7 days are spent on the rise/decay, respectively. The estimated bolometric light curve of this object peaked at about 7x10^42 erg/s -- roughly seven times brighter than AT2017gfo. We show that this event can be explained by an explosion with a fast (v~0.08 c) low-mass (~0.07 Msun) ejecta, composed mostly of radioactive elements. For example, ejecta dominated by Ni-56 with a time scale of t_0=1.6 days for the ejecta to become optically thin for gamma-rays fits the data well. Such a scenario requires burning at densities that are typically found in the envelopes of neutron stars or the cores of white dwarfs. A combination of circumstellar material (CSM) interaction power at early times and shock cooling at late times is consistent with the photometric observations, but the observed spectrum of the event may pose some challenges for this scenario. The observations are not consistent with a shock breakout from a stellar envelope, while a model involving a low-mass ejecta ramming into low-mass CSM cannot explain both the early- and late-time observations., 10 pages, ApJ in press
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- 2021
12. PGIR 20eid (SN2020qmp): A Type IIP Supernova at 15.6 Mpc discovered by the Palomar Gattini-IR survey
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G. P. Srinivasaragavan, I. Sfaradi, J. Jencson, K. De, A. Horesh, M. M. Kasliwal, S. Tinyanont, M. Hankins, S. Schulze, M. C. B. Ashley, M. J. Graham, V. Karambelkar, R. Lau, A. A. Mahabal, A. M. Moore, E. O. Ofek, Y. Sharma, J. Sollerman, J. Soon, R. Soria, T. Travouillon, and R. Walters
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE) ,Space and Planetary Science ,FOS: Physical sciences ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena - Abstract
We present a detailed analysis of SN 2020qmp, a nearby type IIP core-collapse supernova (CCSN), discovered by the Palomar Gattini-IR (PGIR) survey in the galaxy UGC07125. We illustrate how the multiwavelength study of this event helps our general understanding of stellar progenitors and circumstellar medium (CSM) interactions in CCSNe. We also highlight the importance of near-infrared (NIR) surveys for early detections of SNe in dusty environments. SN 2020qmp displays characteristic hydrogen lines in its optical spectra, as well as a plateau in its optical LC, hallmarks of a type IIP SN. We do not detect linear polarization during the plateau phase, with a 3 sigma upper limit of 0.78%. Through hydrodynamical LC modeling and an analysis of its nebular spectra, we estimate a progenitor mass of around 11 solar masses, and an explosion energy of around 0.8e51 erg. We find that the spectral energy distribution cannot be explained by a simple CSM interaction model, assuming a constant shock velocity and steady mass-loss rate, and the excess X-ray luminosity compared with the synchrotron radio luminosity suggests deviations from equipartition. Finally, we demonstrate the advantages of NIR surveys over optical surveys for the detection of dust-obscured CCSNe in the local universe. Specifically, our simulations show that the Wide-Field Infrared Transient Explorer will detect about 14 more CCSNe out of 75 expected in its footprint within 40 Mpc, over five years than an optical survey equivalent to the Zwicky Transient Facility would detect. We have determined or constrained the main properties of SN 2020qmp and of its progenitor, highlighting the value of multiwavelength follow-up observations of nearby CCSNe. We have also shown that forthcoming NIR surveys will finally enable us to do a nearly complete census of CCSNe in the local universe., 15 pages, 14 figures, Accepted in Astronomy & Astrophysics; Revised version after referee comments and language edits from journal
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- 2021
13. Near-infrared Supernova Ia Distances : Host Galaxy Extinction and Mass-step Corrections Revisited
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J. Johansson, S. B. Cenko, O. D. Fox, S. Dhawan, A. Goobar, V. Stanishev, N. Butler, W. H. Lee, A. M. Watson, U. C. Fremling, M. M. Kasliwal, P. E. Nugent, T. Petrushevska, J. Sollerman, L. Yan, J. Burke, G. Hosseinzadeh, D. A. Howell, C. McCully, and S. Valenti
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010308 nuclear & particles physics ,Molecular ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics ,Astronomy & Astrophysics ,01 natural sciences ,Atomic ,Particle and Plasma Physics ,Astronomi, astrofysik och kosmologi ,Space and Planetary Science ,0103 physical sciences ,Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology ,Nuclear ,010303 astronomy & astrophysics ,Astronomical and Space Sciences ,Astrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysics ,Physical Chemistry (incl. Structural) - Abstract
We present optical and near-infrared (NIR, Y-, J-, H-band) observations of 42 Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) discovered by the untargeted intermediate Palomar Transient Factory survey. This new data set covers a broad range of redshifts and host galaxy stellar masses, compared to previous SN Ia efforts in the NIR. We construct a sample, using also literature data at optical and NIR wavelengths, to examine claimed correlations between the host stellar masses and the Hubble diagram residuals. The SN magnitudes are corrected for host galaxy extinction using either a global total-to-selective extinction ratio, R V = 2.0, for all SNe, or a best-fit R V for each SN individually. Unlike previous studies that were based on a narrower range in host stellar mass, we do not find evidence for a “mass step,” between the color- and stretch-corrected peak J and H magnitudes for galaxies below and above log ( M * / M ⊙ ) = 10 . However, the mass step remains significant (3σ) at optical wavelengths (g, r, i) when using a global R V , but vanishes when each SN is corrected using their individual best-fit R V . Our study confirms the benefits of the NIR SN Ia distance estimates, as these are largely exempted from the empirical corrections dominating the systematic uncertainties in the optical.
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- 2021
14. The Spectacular Ultraviolet Flash from the Peculiar Type Ia Supernova 2019yvq
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R. R. Laher, A. A. Mahabal, Y.-L. Kim, Adam A. Miller, M. Rigault, Jesper Sollerman, Tassilo Schweyer, Frank J. Masci, Ariel Goobar, M. Kromer, M. R. Magee, Stephen Kaye, Reed Riddle, E. Zimmerman, Eran O. Ofek, E. S. Phinney, Abigail Polin, Suhail Dhawan, P. E. Nugent, Maayane T. Soumagnac, Kate Maguire, David L. Shupe, Alexandre Delacroix, S. J. Prentice, David Goldstein, Avishay Gal-Yam, Robert J. Walters, Daniel A. Perley, I. Andreoni, I. Irani, Matthew J. Graham, C. Fremling, B. Rusholme, Steve Schulze, Lin Yan, V. Z. Golkhou, Shrinivas R. Kulkarni, M. M. Kasliwal, Giacomo Terreran, Mattia Bulla, K. de, R. Dekany, Yuhan Yao, Eric C. Bellm, J. Zolkower, Institut de Physique des 2 Infinis de Lyon (IP2I Lyon), Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL), Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire de Physique de Clermont (LPC), Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Université Clermont Auvergne [2017-2020] (UCA [2017-2020])-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL), Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), and Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Clermont Auvergne (UCA)
- Subjects
Surveys (1671) ,astro-ph.SR ,010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences ,Supernovae (1668) ,Observational astronomy (1145) ,FOS: Physical sciences ,Astrophysics ,Astronomy & Astrophysics ,medicine.disease_cause ,01 natural sciences ,Atomic ,Physical Chemistry ,Spectral line ,NO ,Particle and Plasma Physics ,0103 physical sciences ,Binary star ,medicine ,Nuclear ,Ejecta ,010303 astronomy & astrophysics ,QC ,Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR) ,QB ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,Physics ,High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE) ,astro-ph.HE ,Type Ia supernovae (1728) ,White dwarf stars (1799) ,White dwarf ,Molecular ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,Supernova ,Stars ,Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics ,13. Climate action ,Space and Planetary Science ,Variable star ,Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena ,[PHYS.ASTR]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph] ,Ultraviolet ,Astronomical and Space Sciences ,Physical Chemistry (incl. Structural) - Abstract
Early observations of Type Ia supernovae (SNe$\,$Ia) provide essential clues for understanding the progenitor system that gave rise to the terminal thermonuclear explosion. We present exquisite observations of SN$\,$2019yvq, the second observed SN$\,$Ia, after iPTF$\,$14atg, to display an early flash of emission in the ultraviolet (UV) and optical. Our analysis finds that SN$\,$2019yvq was unusual, even when ignoring the initial flash, in that it was moderately underluminous for an SN$\,$Ia ($M_g \approx -18.5\,$mag at peak) yet featured very high absorption velocities ($v \approx 15,000\,\mathrm{km\,s}^{-1}$ for Si II $\lambda$6355 at peak). We find that many of the observational features of SN$\,$2019yvq, aside from the flash, can be explained if the explosive yield of radioactive $^{56}\mathrm{Ni}$ is relatively low (we measure $M_{^{56}\mathrm{Ni}} = 0.31 \pm 0.05\,M_\odot$) and it and other iron-group elements are concentrated in the innermost layers of the ejecta. To explain both the UV/optical flash and peak properties of SN$\,$2019yvq we consider four different models: interaction between the SN ejecta and a nondegenerate companion, extended clumps of $^{56}\mathrm{Ni}$ in the outer ejecta, a double-detonation explosion, and the violent merger of two white dwarfs. Each of these models has shortcomings when compared to the observations; it is clear additional tuning is required to better match SN$\,$2019yvq. In closing, we predict that the nebular spectra of SN$\,$2019yvq will feature either H or He emission, if the ejecta collided with a companion, strong [Ca II] emission, if it was a double detonation, or narrow [O I] emission, if it was due to a violent merger., Comment: 27 pages, 14 figures, accepted in ApJ
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- 2020
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15. ZTF18aalrxas: A Type IIb Supernova from a Very Extended Low-mass Progenitor
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Mattias Ergon, H. Ko, Frank J. Masci, Z. Golkhou, Nadejda Blagorodnova, A. Dugas, C. Barbarino, U. D. Rebbapragada, Jesper Sollerman, James D. Neill, Avishay Gal-Yam, R. R. Laher, David Goldstein, Thomas Kupfer, Ben Rusholme, Ashot Bagdasaryan, Lin Yan, Justin Belicki, S. Frederick, Yuhan Yao, Adam A. Miller, Eric C. Bellm, L. Tartaglia, Reed Riddle, M. Kowalski, Richard G. Dekany, Steve Schulze, Shrinivas R. Kulkarni, M. M. Kasliwal, Roger Smith, Christoffer Fremling, Daniel A. Perley, Matthew J. Graham, and Kaushik De
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010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences ,Thermodynamic equilibrium ,Astronomy ,Astrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena ,FOS: Physical sciences ,Astrophysics ,Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics ,7. Clean energy ,01 natural sciences ,Spectral line ,0103 physical sciences ,Astrophysics::Solar and Stellar Astrophysics ,Ejecta ,010303 astronomy & astrophysics ,QC ,Astrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysics ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,Envelope (waves) ,QB ,High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE) ,Physics ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,Radius ,Light curve ,Supernova ,13. Climate action ,Space and Planetary Science ,Low Mass ,Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena - Abstract
We investigate ZTF18aalrxas, a double-peaked Type IIb core-collapse supernova (SN) discovered during science validation of the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF). ZTF18aalrxas was discovered while the optical emission was still rising towards the initial cooling peak (0.7 mag over 2 days). Our observations consist of multi-band (UV, optical) light-curves, and optical spectra spanning from $\approx0.7$ d to $\approx180$ d past the explosion. We use a Monte-Carlo based non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (NLTE) model, that simultanously reproduces both the $\rm ^{56}Ni$ powered bolometric light curve and our nebular spectrum. This model is used to constrain the synthesized radioactive nickel mass (0.17 $\mathrm{M}_{\odot}$) and the total ejecta mass (1.7 $\mathrm{M}_{\odot}$) of the SN. The cooling emission is modeled using semi-analytical extended envelope models to constrain the progenitor radius ($790-1050$ $\mathrm{R}_{\odot}$) at the time of explosion. Our nebular spectrum shows signs of interaction with a dense circumstellar medium (CSM), and this spetrum is modeled and analysed to constrain the amount of ejected oxygen ($0.3-0.5$ $\mathrm{M}_{\odot}$) and the total hydrogen mass ($\approx0.15$ $\mathrm{M}_{\odot}$) in the envelope of the progenitor. The oxygen mass of ZTF18aalrxas is consistent with a low ($12-13$ $\mathrm{M}_{\odot}$) Zero Age Main Sequence mass progenitor. The light curves and spectra of ZTF18aalrxas are not consistent with massive single star SN Type IIb progenitor models. The presence of an extended hydrogen envelope of low mass, the presence of a dense CSM, the derived ejecta mass, and the late-time oxygen emission can all be explained in a binary model scenario., 14 pages, 7 figures, submitted to ApJ
- Published
- 2019
16. iPTF16asu: A Luminous, Rapidly-Evolving, and High-Velocity Supernova
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Gary Doran, N. Blagorodnova, Frank J. Masci, D. A. Perley, P. E. Nugent, S. B. Cenko, Giorgos Leloudas, Adam Rubin, Jesper Sollerman, P. R. Wozniak, Ragnhild Lunnan, K. Hurley, M. M. Kasliwal, F. Taddia, D. Frederiks, Alessandra Corsi, V. Savchenko, Y. Cao, S. R. Kulkarni, Emir Karamehmetoglu, Andreas Ritter, Dmitry S. Svinkin, David O. Cook, Christoffer Fremling, P. M. Vreeswijk, and L. Whitesides
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Absolute magnitude ,High velocity ,Astrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena ,FOS: Physical sciences ,Astrophysics ,Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics ,general [gamma-ray burst] ,Astronomy & Astrophysics ,Magnetar ,Atomic ,Physical Chemistry ,7. Clean energy ,01 natural sciences ,Spectral line ,Particle and Plasma Physics ,individual [supernovae] ,0103 physical sciences ,magnetars [stars] ,Astrophysics::Solar and Stellar Astrophysics ,Nuclear ,010303 astronomy & astrophysics ,Very Energetic ,QC ,Astrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysics ,QB ,astro-ph.HE ,Physics ,High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE) ,010308 nuclear & particles physics ,Molecular ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,shock waves ,Light curve ,Supernova ,13. Climate action ,Space and Planetary Science ,Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena ,Energy source ,general [supernovae] ,Astronomical and Space Sciences ,Physical Chemistry (incl. Structural) - Abstract
Wide-field surveys are discovering a growing number of rare transients whose physical origin is not yet well understood. Here, we present optical and UV data and analysis of iPTF16asu, a luminous, rapidly-evolving, high velocity, stripped-envelope supernova. With a rest-frame rise-time of just 4 days and a peak absolute magnitude of $M_{\rm g}=-20.4$ mag, the light curve of iPTF16asu is faster and more luminous than previous rapid transients. The spectra of iPTF16asu show a featureless, blue continuum near peak that develops into a Type Ic-BL spectrum on the decline. We show that while the late-time light curve could plausibly be powered by $^{56}$Ni decay, the early emission requires a different energy source. Non-detections in the X-ray and radio strongly constrain any associated gamma-ray burst to be low-luminosity. We suggest that the early emission may have been powered by either a rapidly spinning-down magnetar, or by shock breakout in an extended envelope of a very energetic explosion. In either scenario a central engine is required, making iPTF16asu an intriguing transition object between superluminous supernovae, Type Ic-BL supernovae, and low-energy gamma-ray bursts., Comment: ApJ in press; matches published version. Minor changes following referee's comments; conclusions unchanged
- Published
- 2017
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17. RADIO OBSERVATIONS OF A SAMPLE OF BROAD-LINE TYPE IC SUPERNOVAE DISCOVERED BY PTF/IPTF: A SEARCH FOR RELATIVISTIC EXPLOSIONS
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Giorgos Leloudas, Avishay Gal-Yam, D. A. Perley, P. A. Mazzali, Mark Sullivan, Alessandra Corsi, K. Maguire, F. Taddia, Yi Cao, R. R. Laher, Nipuni Palliyaguru, Assaf Horesh, P. E. Nugent, Jesper Sollerman, S. B. Cenko, Dale A. Frail, Shrinivas R. Kulkarni, and M. M. Kasliwal
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Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO) ,Astrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena ,FOS: Physical sciences ,Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics ,Astrophysics ,Type (model theory) ,general [gamma-ray burst] ,Astronomy & Astrophysics ,Physical Chemistry ,01 natural sciences ,Atomic ,Jansky ,Particle and Plasma Physics ,0103 physical sciences ,GRB 030329 ,Astrophysics::Solar and Stellar Astrophysics ,Nuclear ,010306 general physics ,Ejecta ,010303 astronomy & astrophysics ,Astrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysics ,QB ,Line (formation) ,High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE) ,Physics ,Jet (fluid) ,Molecular ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,non-thermal [radiation mechanisms] ,Supernova ,Space and Planetary Science ,Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena ,Gamma-ray burst ,general [supernovae] ,Astronomical and Space Sciences ,Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics ,Physical Chemistry (incl. Structural) - Abstract
Long duration gamma-ray bursts are a rare subclass of stripped-envelope core-collapse supernovae that launch collimated relativistic outflows (jets). All gamma-ray-burst-associated supernovae are spectroscopically of Type Ic with broad lines, but the fraction of broad-lined Type Ic supernovae harboring low-luminosity gamma-ray-burst remains largely unconstrained. Some supernovae should be accompanied by off-axis $\gamma$-ray burst jets that remain invisible initially, but then emerge as strong radio sources (as the jets decelerate). However, this critical prediction of the jet model for gamma-ray bursts has yet to be verified observationally. Here, we present K. G. Jansky Very Large Array observations of 15 broad-lined supernovae of Type Ic discovered by the Palomar Transient Factory in an untargeted manner. Most of the supernovae in our sample exclude radio emission observationally similar to that of the radio-loud, relativistic SN\,1998bw. We constrain the fraction of 1998bw-like broad-lined Type Ic supernovae to be, Comment: 20 pages, 10 figures; accepted for publication in ApJ. This version addresses Referee's comments
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- 2016
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18. The subluminous and peculiar Type Ia supernova PTF09dav
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I. M. Hook, Jeff Cooke, P. Podsiadlowski, Avishay Gal-Yam, Iair Arcavi, D. A. Howell, Paolo A. Mazzali, Lars Bildsten, R. C. Thomas, Dovi Poznanski, J. S. Bloom, Nicholas M. Law, M. M. Kasliwal, P. E. Nugent, Eran O. Ofek, S. B. Cenko, S. R. Kulkarni, R. M. Quimby, S. Blake, and Mark Sullivan
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Physics ,education.field_of_study ,Spiral galaxy ,Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO) ,010308 nuclear & particles physics ,Extinction (astronomy) ,Population ,FOS: Physical sciences ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,Astrophysics ,01 natural sciences ,Galaxy ,Luminosity ,Supernova ,Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics ,Space and Planetary Science ,0103 physical sciences ,Ejecta ,education ,010303 astronomy & astrophysics ,Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR) ,Dwarf galaxy ,Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics - Abstract
PTF09dav is a peculiar subluminous type Ia supernova (SN) discovered by the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF). Spectroscopically, it appears superficially similar to the class of subluminous SN1991bg-like SNe, but it has several unusual features which make it stand out from this population. Its peak luminosity is fainter than any previously discovered SN1991bg-like SN Ia (M_B -15.5), but without the unusually red optical colors expected if the faint luminosity were due to extinction. The photospheric optical spectra have very unusual strong lines of Sc II and Mg I, with possible Sr II, together with stronger than average Ti II and low velocities of ~6000 km/s. The host galaxy of PTF09dav is ambiguous. The SN lies either on the extreme outskirts (~41kpc) of a spiral galaxy, or in an very faint (M_R>-12.8) dwarf galaxy, unlike other 1991bg-like SNe which are invariably associated with massive, old stellar populations. PTF09dav is also an outlier on the light-curve-width--luminosity and color--luminosity relations derived for other sub-luminous SNe Ia. The inferred 56Ni mass is small (0.019+/-0.003Msun), as is the estimated ejecta mass of 0.36Msun. Taken together, these properties make PTF09dav a remarkable event. We discuss various physical models that could explain PTF09dav. Helium shell detonation or deflagration on the surface of a CO white-dwarf can explain some of the features of PTF09dav, including the presence of Sc and the low photospheric velocities, but the observed Si and Mg are not predicted to be very abundant in these models. We conclude that no single model is currently capable of explaining all of the observed signatures of PTF09dav., Accepted for publication in ApJ
- Published
- 2016
19. The Caltech-NRAO Stripe 82 Survey (CNSS) Paper I: The Pilot Radio Transient Survey In 50 deg$^2$
- Author
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Shrinivas R. Kulkarni, M. M. Kasliwal, Kunal Mooley, Stephen Bourke, S. T. Myers, Eric C. Bellm, Gregg Hallinan, Dale A. Frail, Russ R. Laher, S. B. Cenko, David Levitan, Assaf Horesh, and Yi Cao
- Subjects
Active galactic nucleus ,Proper motion ,media_common.quotation_subject ,FOS: Physical sciences ,Astrophysics ,01 natural sciences ,Jansky ,0103 physical sciences ,Transient (computer programming) ,010303 astronomy & astrophysics ,Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM) ,Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR) ,media_common ,Physics ,High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE) ,010308 nuclear & particles physics ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,Light curve ,Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies ,Galaxy ,Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics ,Space and Planetary Science ,Sky ,Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA) ,Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena ,Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics ,Data reduction - Abstract
We have commenced a multi-year program, the Caltech-NRAO Stripe 82 Survey (CNSS), to search for radio transients with the Jansky VLA in the SDSS Stripe 82 region. The CNSS will deliver five epochs over the entire $\sim$270 deg$^2$ of Stripe 82, an eventual deep combined map with a rms noise of $\sim$40 $\mu$Jy and catalogs at a frequency of 3 GHz, and having a spatial resolution of 3". This first paper presents the results from an initial pilot survey of a 50 deg$^2$ region of Stripe 82, involving four epochs spanning logarithmic timescales between one week and 1.5 years, with the combined map having a median rms noise of 35 $\mu$Jy. This pilot survey enabled the development of the hardware and software for rapid data processing, as well as transient detection and follow-up, necessary for the full 270 deg$^2$ survey. Classification of variable and transient sources relied heavily on the wealth of multi-wavelength data in the Stripe 82 region, supplemented by repeated mapping of the region by the Palomar Transient Factory. $3.9^{+0.5}_{-0.9}$% of the detected point sources were found to vary by greater than 30%, consistent with similar studies at 1.4 GHz and 5 GHz. Multi-wavelength photometric data and light curves suggest that the variability is mostly due to shock-induced flaring in the jets of AGN. Although this was only a pilot survey, we detected two bona fide transients, associated with an RS CVn binary and a dKe star. Comparison with existing radio survey data revealed additional highly variable and transient sources on timescales between 5-20 years, largely associated with renewed AGN activity. The rates of such AGN possibly imply episodes of enhanced accretion and jet activity occurring once every $\sim$40,000 years in these galaxies. We compile the revised radio transient rates and make recommendations for future transient surveys and joint radio-optical experiments. (Abridged), Comment: 26 pages, 22 figures, 4 tables. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. Data products (images, catalogs, tables, and light curves) available at http://tauceti.caltech.edu/stripe82 . A regularly-updated compilation of radio transient surveys is available at http://www.tauceti.caltech.edu/kunal/radio-transient-surveys/index.html
- Published
- 2016
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20. The Palomar Transient Factory photometric catalog 1.0
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Iair Arcavi, Avishay Gal-Yam, Robert M. Quimby, David Levitan, Carl J. Grillmair, Eran O. Ofek, Mark Sullivan, Dovi Poznanski, Shrinivas R. Kulkarni, A. Pickles, M. M. Kasliwal, George Helou, Nicholas M. Law, Jason Surace, Peter Nugent, Assaf Horesh, Marcel A. Agüeros, Branimir Sesar, Josh Bloom, Lars Bildsten, S. B. Cenko, J. C. van Eyken, Thomas A. Prince, Russ R. Laher, and Ofer Yaron
- Subjects
media_common.quotation_subject ,Astrophysics::Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics ,FOS: Physical sciences ,Photometric system ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics ,Astrophysics ,Stars ,Photometric calibration ,Space and Planetary Science ,Sky ,Magnitude (astronomy) ,Factory (object-oriented programming) ,Transient (computer programming) ,Astrophysics::Earth and Planetary Astrophysics ,Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics ,Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM) ,Astrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysics ,Geology ,media_common - Abstract
We construct a photometrically calibrated catalog of non-variable sources from the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) observations. The first version of this catalog presented here, the PTF photometric catalog 1.0, contains calibrated R_PTF-filter magnitudes for about 21 million sources brighter than magnitude 19, over an area of about 11233 deg^2. The magnitudes are provided in the PTF photometric system, and the color of a source is required in order to convert these magnitudes into other magnitude systems. We estimate that the magnitudes in this catalog have typical accuracy of about 0.02 mag with respect to magnitudes from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The median repeatability of our catalog's magnitudes for stars between 15 and 16 mag, is about 0.01 mag, and it is better than 0.03 mag for 95% of the sources in this magnitude range. The main goal of this catalog is to provide reference magnitudes for photometric calibration of visible light observations. Subsequent versions of this catalog, which will be published incrementally online, will be extended to a larger sky area and will also include g_PTF-filter magnitudes, as well as variability and proper motion information., 6 pages, 6 figures, PASP in press
- Published
- 2012
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21. THE COLLIMATION AND ENERGETICS OF THE BRIGHTESTSWIFTGAMMA-RAY BURSTS
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S. B. Cenko, D. A. Frail, F. A. Harrison, S. R. Kulkarni, E. Nakar, P. C. Chandra, N. R. Butler, D. B. Fox, A. Gal-Yam, M. M. Kasliwal, J. Kelemen, D.-S. Moon, E. O. Ofek, P. A. Price, A. Rau, A. M. Soderberg, H. I. Teplitz, M. W. Werner, D. C.-J. Bock, J. S. Bloom, D. A. Starr, A. V. Filippenko, R. A. Chevalier, N. Gehrels, J. N. Nousek, and T. Piran
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE) ,Physics ,Jet (fluid) ,010308 nuclear & particles physics ,Astrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena ,Isotropy ,FOS: Physical sciences ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,Astrophysics ,Magnetar ,Light curve ,01 natural sciences ,Collimated light ,Afterglow ,Orders of magnitude (time) ,Space and Planetary Science ,0103 physical sciences ,Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena ,Gamma-ray burst ,010303 astronomy & astrophysics - Abstract
Long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are widely believed to be highly-collimated explosions (opening angle theta ~ 1-10 deg). As a result of this beaming factor, the true energy release from a GRB is usually several orders of magnitude smaller than the observed isotropic value. Measuring this opening angle, typically inferred from an achromatic steepening in the afterglow light curve (a "jet" break), has proven exceedingly difficult in the Swift era. Here we undertake a study of five of the brightest (in terms of the isotropic prompt gamma-ray energy release, E(gamma, iso)) GRBs in the Swift era to search for jet breaks and hence constrain the collimation-corrected energy release. We present multi-wavelength (radio through X-ray) observations of GRBs 050820A, 060418, and 080319B, and construct afterglow models to extract the opening angle and beaming-corrected energy release for all three events. Together with results from previous analyses of GRBs 050904 and 070125, we find evidence for an achromatic jet break in all five events, strongly supporting the canonical picture of GRBs as collimated explosions. The most natural explanation for the lack of observed jet breaks from most Swift GRBs is therefore selection effects. However, the opening angles for the events in our sample are larger than would be expected if all GRBs had a canonical energy release of ~ 10e51 erg. The total energy release we measure for those "hyper-energetic" (E(total) >~ 10e52 erg) events in our sample is large enough to start challenging models with a magnetar as the compact central remnant., Submitted to ApJ, comments welcome
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- 2010
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22. Constraints on the origin of the first light from SN 2014J
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Robert J. Siverd, Keivan G. Stassun, J. Pepper, M. Kromer, Ariel Goobar, Rahman Amanullah, Francesco Taddia, Jesper Sollerman, and M. M. Kasliwal
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Physics ,High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE) ,Early detection ,White dwarf ,FOS: Physical sciences ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,Astrophysics ,First light ,Imaging data ,Galaxy ,Shock (mechanics) ,law.invention ,Telescope ,Supernova ,Space and Planetary Science ,law ,Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena - Abstract
We study the very early lightcurve of supernova 2014J (SN 2014J) using the high-cadence broad-band imaging data obtained by the Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope (KELT), which fortuitously observed M 82 around the time of the explosion, starting more than two months prior to detection, with up to 20 observations per night. These observations are complemented by observations in two narrow-band filters used in an H$\alpha$ survey of nearby galaxies by the intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (iPTF) that also captured the first days of the brightening of the \sn. The evolution of the lightcurves is consistent with the expected signal from the cooling of shock heated material of large scale dimensions, $\gsim 1 R_{\odot}$. This could be due to heated material of the progenitor, a companion star or pre-existing circumstellar environment, e.g., in the form of an accretion disk. Structure seen in the lightcurves during the first days after explosion could also originate from radioactive material in the outer parts of an exploding white dwarf, as suggested from the early detection of gamma-rays. The model degeneracy translates into a systematic uncertainty of $\pm 0.3$ days on the estimate of the first light from SN 2014J., Comment: Accepted by ApJ. Companion paper by Siverd et al, arXiv:1411.4150
- Published
- 2015
23. A Tale of Two Transients: GW 170104 and GRB 170105A
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R. M. Quimby, Santosh V. Vadawale, R. P. Fender, M. M. Kasliwal, A. R. Rao, Vidushi Sharma, Alessandra Corsi, D. A. Perley, Harish Vedantham, Varun Bhalerao, S. B. Cenko, Albert K. H. Kong, Sylvain Veilleux, J. E. Jencson, Dipankar Bhattacharya, A. Vibhute, N. Blagorodnova, A. Kutyrev, Thomas Kupfer, E. Aarthy, E. Troja, Dale A. Frail, T. M. Cantwell, Kunal Mooley, R. Itoh, N. P. S. Mithun, Sujay Mate, N. Kawai, Y. C. Perrott, Scott M. Adams, David Titterington, Junjie Mao, and Leo Singer
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Gamma-Ray Bursts ,Follow-Up ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Events ,Explosions ,Context (language use) ,Optical Counterpart ,Astrophysics ,01 natural sciences ,Coincidence ,Atlas (anatomy) ,0103 physical sciences ,medicine ,010306 general physics ,Telescope ,010303 astronomy & astrophysics ,QC ,QB ,media_common ,Gravitational Waves ,Physics ,Wave Source Gw150914 ,Gravitational wave ,Search ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,Gw151226 ,Galaxies ,Afterglow ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,gravitational waves ,Space and Planetary Science ,Sky ,individual (GRB 170105A) [gamma-ray burst] ,Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena ,Gamma-ray burst ,Gamma-Ray Burst: Individual (Grb 170105a) ,Event (particle physics) - Abstract
We present multi-wavelength follow-up campaigns by the AstroSat-CZTI and GROWTH collaborations to search for an electromagnetic counterpart to the gravitational wave event GW170104. At the time of the GW170104 trigger, the AstroSat CZTI field-of-view covered 50.3\% of the sky localization. We do not detect any hard X-ray (>100 keV) signal at this time, and place an upper limit of $\approx 4.5 \times 10^{-7}~{\rm erg~cm}^{-2}{\rm~s}^{-1}$ for a 1\,s timescale. Separately, the ATLAS survey reported a rapidly fading optical source dubbed ATLAS17aeu in the error circle of GW170104. Our panchromatic investigation of ATLAS17aeu shows that it is the afterglow of an unrelated long, soft GRB~170105A, with only a fortuitous spatial coincidence with GW170104. We then discuss the properties of this transient in the context of standard long GRB afterglow models., Comment: ApJ accepted - updated to match version, 14 pages, 8 figures, 3 tables
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- 2017
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24. Interaction-powered Supernovae: Rise-time versus Peak-luminosity Correlation and the Shock-breakout Velocity
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Avishay Gal-Yam, S. B. Cenko, Jason Surace, A. De Cia, Claes Fransson, Eran O. Ofek, D. Bersier, R. R. Laher, S. R. Kulkarni, R. M. Quimby, Iair Arcavi, M. M. Kasliwal, D. Tal, P. E. Nugent, O. Yaron, Y. Cao, Alexei V. Filippenko, S. Ben-Ami, and Mark Sullivan
- Subjects
FOS: Physical sciences ,Astrophysics ,Astronomy & Astrophysics ,01 natural sciences ,Atomic ,Luminosity ,massive [stars] ,Particle and Plasma Physics ,0103 physical sciences ,Nuclear ,Ejecta ,010303 astronomy & astrophysics ,Physics ,High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE) ,astro-ph.HE ,Breakout ,010308 nuclear & particles physics ,Molecular ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,mass-loss [stars] ,Light curve ,Shock (mechanics) ,Supernova ,Space and Planetary Science ,Rise time ,Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena ,Event (particle physics) ,general [supernovae] ,Astronomical and Space Sciences ,Physical Chemistry (incl. Structural) - Abstract
Interaction of supernova (SN) ejecta with the optically thick circumstellar medium (CSM) of a progenitor star can result in a bright, long-lived shock breakout event. Candidates for such SNe include Type IIn and superluminous SNe. If some of these SNe are powered by interaction, then there should be a relation between their peak luminosity, bolometric light-curve rise time, and shock-breakout velocity. Given that the shock velocity during shock breakout is not measured, we expect a correlation, with a significant spread, between the rise time and the peak luminosity of these SNe. Here, we present a sample of 15 SNe IIn for which we have good constraints on their rise time and peak luminosity from observations obtained using the Palomar Transient Factory. We report on a possible correlation between the R-band rise time and peak luminosity of these SNe, with a false-alarm probability of 3%. Assuming that these SNe are powered by interaction, combining these observables and theory allows us to deduce lower limits on the shock-breakout velocity. The lower limits on the shock velocity we find are consistent with what is expected for SNe (i.e., ~10^4 km/s). This supports the suggestion that the early-time light curves of SNe IIn are caused by shock breakout in a dense CSM. We note that such a correlation can arise from other physical mechanisms. Performing such a test on other classes of SNe (e.g., superluminous SNe) can be used to rule out the interaction model for a class of events., Accepted to ApJ, 6 pages
- Published
- 2014
25. The Rise of SN 2014J in the Nearby Galaxy M82
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D. A. Howell, Vishal Joshi, Rahman Amanullah, Iair Arcavi, D. J. Sand, Christoffer Fremling, Assaf Horesh, Debabrata Banerjee, S. Valenti, Shriharsh P. Tendulkar, Avishay Gal-Yam, S. Papadogiannakis, Jason Surace, Tanja Petrushevska, Y. Cao, R. Ferretti, Rodrigo F. Díaz, Michel Dennefeld, Jesper Sollerman, Josh Bloom, Chelsea E. Harris, Eran O. Ofek, S. B. Cenko, S. R. Kulkarni, V. Venkataraman, Daniel A. Perley, Vallery Stanishev, Joel Johansson, Trent J. Dupuy, P. E. Nugent, Michael C. Liu, Ariel Goobar, M. M. Kasliwal, and N. M. Ashok
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astro-ph.SR ,Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO) ,Electromagnetic spectrum ,astro-ph.GA ,Astrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena ,Extinction (astronomy) ,FOS: Physical sciences ,Astrophysics ,Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics ,Astronomy & Astrophysics ,individual [supernovae] ,Astrophysics::Solar and Stellar Astrophysics ,Absorption (electromagnetic radiation) ,Spectroscopy ,Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR) ,QC ,Astrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysics ,QB ,Physics ,extinction ,individual [galaxies] ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies ,Galaxy ,Supernova ,Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics ,Space and Planetary Science ,Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA) ,astro-ph.CO ,dust ,Astrophysics::Earth and Planetary Astrophysics ,Astronomical and Space Sciences ,Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics - Abstract
We report on the discovery of SN2014J in the nearby galaxy M82. Given its proximity, it offers the best opportunity to date to study a thermonuclear supernova over a wide range of the electromagnetic spectrum. The first set of optical, near-IR and mid-IR observations of SN2014J, orchestrated by the intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (iPTF), show that SN2014J is a spectroscopically normal Type Ia supernova, albeit exhibiting high-velocity features in its spectrum and heavily reddened by dust in the host galaxy. Our earliest detections start just hours after the fitted time of explosion. We use high-resolution optical spectroscopy to analyze the dense intervening material and do not detect any evolution in the resolved absorption features during the lightcurve rise. Similarly to other highly reddened Type Ia supernovae, a low value of total-to-selective extinction, Rv < 2, provides the best match to our observations. We also study pre-explosion optical and near-IR images from HST with special emphasis on the sources nearest to the SN location., Accepted for publication in ApJL
- Published
- 2014
26. The Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS): a large-scale structure at z=0.73 and the relation of galaxy morphologies to local environment
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L. A. M. Tasca, Anton M. Koekemoer, Bahram Mobasher, A. Finoguenov, Paolo Cassata, A. Leauthaud, Hans Boehringer, David R. Thompson, G. Hasinger, Peter Capak, Jean-Paul Kneib, Marcella Brusa, Luigi Guzzo, Shunji S. Sasaki, D. B. Sanders, Manfred G. Kitzbichler, D. Calzetti, Jason Rhodes, Masaru Ajiki, Nick Scoville, Andrea Comastri, M. M. Kasliwal, T. Murayama, H. Aussel, Alberto Franceschini, Y. Shioya, H. J. McCracken, Tohru Nagao, Yoshiaki Taniguchi, James E. Taylor, Richard S. Ellis, Richard Massey, Services communs OMP (UMS 831), Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France -Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France -Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille (LAM), Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris (IAP), Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire de Physique Statistique de l'ENS (LPS), Fédération de recherche du Département de physique de l'Ecole Normale Supérieure - ENS Paris (FRDPENS), École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP), Météo France-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Météo France-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC), Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Fédération de recherche du Département de physique de l'Ecole Normale Supérieure - ENS Paris (FRDPENS), École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS Paris), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS Paris), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), L. Guzzo, P. Cassata, A. Finoguenov, R. Massey, N. Z. Scoville, P. Capak, R. S. Elli, B. Mobasher, Y. Taniguchi, D. Thompson, M. Ajiki, H. Aussel, H. Böhringer, M. Brusa, D. Calzetti, A. Comastri, A. Franceschini, G. Hasinger, M. M. Kasliwal, M. G. Kitzbichler, J. Kneib, A. Koekemoer, A. Leauthaud, H. J. McCracken, T. Murayama, T. Nagao, J. Rhode, D. B. Sander, S. Sasaki, Y. Shioya, L. Tasca, and J. E. Taylor
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010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences ,FOS: Physical sciences ,Astrophysics ,Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics ,Surveys ,01 natural sciences ,Physical cosmology ,Photometry (optics) ,[PHYS.ASTR.CO]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics [astro-ph.CO] ,Galaxies: Evolution ,0103 physical sciences ,Surface brightness ,010303 astronomy & astrophysics ,Astrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysics ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,Physics ,Star formation ,Astrophysics (astro-ph) ,Sigma ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,Redshift ,Galaxy ,Cosmology: Large-Scale Structure of Universe ,Space and Planetary Science ,Local environment ,Galaxies: Clusters: General - Abstract
We have identified a large-scale structure at z~0.73 in the COSMOS field, coherently described by the distribution of galaxy photometric redshifts, an ACS weak-lensing convergence map and the distribution of extended X-ray sources in a mosaic of XMM observations. The main peak seen in these maps corresponds to a rich cluster with Tx= 3.51+0.60/-0.46 keV and Lx=(1.56+/-0.04) x 10^{44} erg/s ([0.1-2.4] keV band). We estimate an X-ray mass within $r500$ corresponding to M500~1.6 x 10^{14} Msun and a total lensing mass (extrapolated by fitting a NFW profile) M(NFW)=(6+/-3) x 10^15 Msun. We use an automated morphological classification of all galaxies brighter than I_AB=24 over the structure area to measure the fraction of early-type objects as a function of local projected density Sigma_10, based on photometric redshifts derived from ground-based deep multi-band photometry. We recover a robust morphology-density relation at this redshift, indicating, for comparable local densities, a smaller fraction of early-type galaxies than today. Interestingly, this difference is less strong at the highest densities and becomes more severe in intermediate environments. We also find, however, local "inversions'' of the observed global relation, possibly driven by the large-scale environment. In particular, we find direct correspondence of a large concentration of disk galaxies to (the colder side of) a possible shock region detected in the X-ray temperature map and surface brightness distribution of the dominant cluster. We interpret this as potential evidence of shock-induced star formation in existing galaxy disks, during the ongoing merger between two sub-clusters., 15 pages (emulateapj style), 16 figs (low res.); to appear in the ApJ Supplement COSMOS Special Issue. Low-resolution figures; full resolution version available at: http://www.astro.caltech.edu/~cosmos/publications/files/guzzo_0701482.pdf
- Published
- 2007
27. SN2009ip: Constraints on the progenitor mass-loss rate
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Y. Cao, George Younes, Ersin Gogus, Lin Lin, Eran O. Ofek, M. M. Kasliwal, and Chryssa Kouveliotou
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Physics ,High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE) ,Solar mass ,Astrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena ,FOS: Physical sciences ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,Radius ,Astrophysics ,Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics ,Spectral line ,Luminosity ,Supernova ,Space and Planetary Science ,Astrophysics::Solar and Stellar Astrophysics ,H-alpha ,Absorption (electromagnetic radiation) ,Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena ,Astrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysics ,Line (formation) - Abstract
Some supernovae (SNe) show evidence for mass-loss events taking place prior to their explosions. Measuring their pre-outburst mass-loss rates provide essential information regarding the mechanisms that are responsible for these events. Here we present XMM-Newton and Swift X-ray observations taken after the latest, and presumably the final, outburst of SN 2009ip. We use these observations as well as new near infra-red and visible light spectra, and published radio and visible light observations to put six independent order-of-magnitude constrains on the mass-loss rate of the SN progenitor prior to the explosion. Our methods utilize: the X-ray luminosity, the bound-free absorption, the H alpha luminosity, the SN rise-time, free-free absorption, and the bolometric luminosity of the outburst detected prior to the explosion. Assuming spherical mass-loss with a wind density profile, we estimate that the effective mass-loss rate from the progenitor was between 10^-3 to 10^-2 solar masses per year, over a few years prior to the explosion, with a velocity of ~1000 km/s. This mass-loss rate corresponds to a total circum stellar matter mass of ~0.04 solar masses, within 6x10^15 cm of the SN. We note that the mass-loss rate estimate based on the H alpha luminosity is higher by an order of magnitude. This can be explained if the narrow line H alpha component is generated at radii larger than the shock radius, or if the CSM has an aspherical geometry. We discuss simple geometries which are consistent with our results., Comment: 8 pages, accepted to ApJ
- Published
- 2013
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28. GOING THE DISTANCE: MAPPING HOST GALAXIES OF LIGO AND VIRGO SOURCES IN THREE DIMENSIONS USING LOCAL COSMOGRAPHY AND TARGETED FOLLOW-UP
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Samaya Nissanke, Leo Singer, Philip Graff, Salvatore Vitale, A. L. Urban, Ilya Mandel, Michael W. Coughlin, S. R. P. Mohapatra, Larry R. Price, S. B. Cenko, Ben Farr, M. M. Kasliwal, N. Gehrels, Christopher P. L. Berry, John Veitch, John K. Cannizzo, V. Raymond, Daniel E. Holz, Will M. Farr, and Hsin-Yu Chen
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Astronomy ,Astrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena ,FOS: Physical sciences ,General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc) ,Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics ,01 natural sciences ,General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology ,Luminosity ,Binary black hole ,0103 physical sciences ,GeneralLiterature_REFERENCE(e.g.,dictionaries,encyclopedias,glossaries) ,010303 astronomy & astrophysics ,Astrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysics ,High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE) ,Physics ,010308 nuclear & particles physics ,Gravitational wave ,Star formation ,Astrophysics::Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,LIGO ,Galaxy ,Redshift ,Neutron star ,Space and Planetary Science ,Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena - Abstract
The Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) discovered gravitational waves (GWs) from a binary black hole merger in 2015 September and may soon observe signals from neutron star mergers. There is considerable interest in searching for their faint and rapidly fading electromagnetic (EM) counterparts, though GW position uncertainties are as coarse as hundreds of square degrees. Because LIGO's sensitivity to binary neutron stars is limited to the local universe, the area on the sky that must be searched could be reduced by weighting positions by mass, luminosity, or star formation in nearby galaxies. Since GW observations provide information about luminosity distance, combining the reconstructed volume with positions and redshifts of galaxies could reduce the area even more dramatically. A key missing ingredient has been a rapid GW parameter estimation algorithm that reconstructs the full distribution of sky location and distance. We demonstrate the first such algorithm, which takes under a minute, fast enough to enable immediate EM follow-up. By combining the three-dimensional posterior with a galaxy catalog, we can reduce the number of galaxies that could conceivably host the event by a factor of 1.4, the total exposure time for the Swift X-ray Telescope by a factor of 2, the total exposure time for a synoptic optical survey by a factor of 2, and the total exposure time for a narrow-field optical telescope by a factor of 3. This encourages us to suggest a new role for small field of view optical instruments in performing targeted searches of the most massive galaxies within the reconstructed volumes., For supplementary material, see https://arxiv.org/abs/1605.04242 For associated data release, see http://asd.gsfc.nasa.gov/Leo.Singer/going-the-distance
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- 2016
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29. Afterglow Observations of Fermi Large Area Telescope Gamma-ray Bursts and the Emerging Class of Hyper-energetic Events
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B. E. Cobb, D. B. Fox, Dale A. Frail, Vikram Rana, S. B. Cenko, J. X. Prochaska, Max Pettini, J. S. Bloom, J. B. Haislip, K. M. Ivarsen, Adam N. Morgan, Alexei V. Filippenko, D. A. Perley, A. P. LaCluyze, A. Cucchiara, Sebastian Lopez, Fiona A. Harrison, Nat Butler, Edo Berger, Karl Glazebrook, M. M. Kasliwal, P. Chandra, S. R. Kulkarni, and D. Reichart
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Physics ,010308 nuclear & particles physics ,Astrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena ,Astrophysics::Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics ,Astrophysics ,Light curve ,Magnetar ,Kinetic energy ,01 natural sciences ,Redshift ,Afterglow ,Stars ,13. Climate action ,Space and Planetary Science ,0103 physical sciences ,QD ,Gamma-ray burst ,010303 astronomy & astrophysics ,QC ,Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope ,QB - Abstract
We present broadband (radio, optical, and X-ray) light curves and spectra of the afterglows of four long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs;GRBs 090323, 090328, 090902B, and 090926A) detected by the Gamma-Ray Burst Monitor and Large Area Telescope (LAT) instruments on the Fermi satellite. With its wide spectral bandpass, extending to GeV energies, Fermi is sensitive to GRBs with very large isotropic energy releases (1054 erg). Although rare, these events are particularly important for testing GRB central-engine models. When combined with spectroscopic redshifts, our afterglow data for these four events are able to constrain jet collimation angles, the density structure of the circumburst medium, and both the true radiated energy release and the kinetic energy of the outflows. In agreement with our earlier work, we find that the relativistic energy budget of at least one of these events (GRB090926A) exceeds the canonical value of 1051erg by an order of magnitude. Such energies pose a severe challenge for models in which the GRB is powered by a magnetar or a neutrino-driven collapsar, but remain compatible with theoretical expectations for magnetohydrodynamical collapsar models (e.g., the Blandford-Znajek mechanism). Our jet opening angles (θ) are similar to those found for pre-Fermi GRBs, but the large initial Lorentz factors (Γ0) inferred from the detection of GeV photons imply θΓ0 ≈ 70-90, values which are above those predicted in magnetohydrodynamic models of jet acceleration. Finally, we find that these Fermi-LAT events preferentially occur in a low-density circumburst environment, and we speculate that this might result from the lower mass-loss rates of their lower-metallicity progenitor stars. Future studies of Fermi-LAT afterglows at radio wavelengths with the order-of-magnitude improvement in sensitivity offered by the Extended Very Large Array should definitively establish the relativistic energy budgets of these events. © 2011. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
- Published
- 2011
30. Galaxy Zoo Supernovae★
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P. Podsiadlowski, Arfon M. Smith, J. Joensson, R. M. Quimby, Lucy Fortson, S. Blake, Stuart Lynn, Steven P. Bamford, Kevin Schawinski, Eran O. Ofek, J. S. Bloom, Nicholas M. Law, Shrinivas R. Kulkarni, M. M. Kasliwal, I. Arcavi, Avishay Gal-Yam, D. A. Howell, Chris Lintott, Janet Jacobsen, I. M. Hook, Peter Nugent, J. Botyanszki, Robert J. Walters, and Mark Sullivan
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Supernova ,Space and Planetary Science ,Computer science ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,Astrophysics ,Large Synoptic Survey Telescope ,Galaxy - Abstract
This paper presents the first results from a new citizen science project: Galaxy Zoo Supernovae. This proof of concept project uses members of the public to identify supernova candidates from the latest generation of wide-field imaging transient surveys. We describe the Galaxy Zoo Supernovae operations and scoring model, and demonstrate the effectiveness of this novel method using imaging data and transients from the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF). We examine the results collected over the period April-July 2010, during which nearly 14,000 supernova candidates from PTF were classified by more than 2,500 individuals within a few hours of data collection. We compare the transients selected by the citizen scientists to those identified by experienced PTF scanners, and find the agreement to be remarkable - Galaxy Zoo Supernovae performs comparably to the PTF scanners, and identified as transients 93% of the ~130 spectroscopically confirmed SNe that PTF located during the trial period (with no false positive identifications). Further analysis shows that only a small fraction of the lowest signal-to-noise SN detections (r > 19.5) are given low scores: Galaxy Zoo Supernovae correctly identifies all SNe with > 8{\sigma} detections in the PTF imaging data. The Galaxy Zoo Supernovae project has direct applicability to future transient searches such as the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, by both rapidly identifying candidate transient events, and via the training and improvement of existing machine classifier algorithms.
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- 2011
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31. Supernova PTF 09uj: A possible shock breakout from a dense circumstellar wind
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Richard Dekany, S. B. Cenko, Eli Waxman, V. Velur, J. Zolkower, J. S. Bloom, Mark Sullivan, Eran O. Ofek, Ken J. Shen, Crystal L. Martin, Alexei V. Filippenko, R. M. Quimby, Nicholas M. Law, David Hale, John Henning, Itay Rabinak, D. McKenna, James D. Neill, R. J. E. Smith, K. Bui, Robert J. Walters, D. A. Howell, A. Gal Yam, Janet Jacobsen, Karl Forster, Lars Bildsten, Peter Nugent, Iair Arcavi, Dovi Poznanski, Gustavo Rahmer, Shrinivas R. Kulkarni, and M. M. Kasliwal
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Physics ,High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE) ,Solar mass ,010308 nuclear & particles physics ,FOS: Physical sciences ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,Astrophysics ,AB magnitude ,Light curve ,medicine.disease_cause ,01 natural sciences ,Shock (mechanics) ,Supernova ,Stars ,13. Climate action ,Space and Planetary Science ,0103 physical sciences ,medicine ,Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena ,Ejecta ,010303 astronomy & astrophysics ,Ultraviolet - Abstract
Type-IIn supernovae (SNe), which are characterized by strong interaction of their ejecta with the surrounding circumstellar matter (CSM), provide a unique opportunity to study the mass-loss history of massive stars shortly before their explosive death. We present the discovery and follow-up observations of a Type IIn SN, PTF 09uj, detected by the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF). Serendipitous observations by GALEX at ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths detected the rise of the SN light curve prior to the PTF discovery. The UV light curve of the SN rose fast, with a time scale of a few days, to a UV absolute AB magnitude of about -19.5. Modeling our observations, we suggest that the fast rise of the UV light curve is due to the breakout of the SN shock through the dense CSM (n~10^10 cm^-3). Furthermore, we find that prior to the explosion the progenitor went through a phase of high mass-loss rate (~0.1 solar mass per year) that lasted for a few years. The decay rate of this SN was fast relative to that of other SNe IIn., Comment: Accepted to Apj, 6 pages, 4 figures
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- 2010
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32. SN2007ax : An Extremely Faint Type Ia Supernova
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M. M. Kasliwal, E. O. Ofek, A. Gal-Yam, A. Rau, P. J. Brown, S. B. Cenko, P. B. Cameron, R. Quimby, S. R. Kulkarni, L. Bildsten, P. Milne, and G. Bryngelson
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Physics ,Supernova ,Space and Planetary Science ,Magnitude (astronomy) ,Astrophysics (astro-ph) ,FOS: Physical sciences ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,Astrophysics ,Type (model theory) - Abstract
We present multi-band photometric and optical spectroscopic observations of SN2007ax, the faintest and reddest Type Ia supernova (SNIa) yet observed. With M_B = -15.9 and (B-V)max = 1.2, this SN is over half a magnitude fainter at maximum light than any other SNIa. Similar to subluminous SN2005ke, SN2007ax also appears to show excess in UV emission at late time. Traditionally, Delta-m_15(B) has been used to parameterize the decline rate for SNeIa. However, the B-band transition from fast to slow decline occurs sooner than 15 days for faint SNeIa. Therefore we suggest that a more physically motivated parameter, the time of intersection of the two slopes, be used instead. Only by explaining the faintest (and the brightest) supernovae, we can thoroughly understand the physics of thermonuclear explosions. We suggest that future surveys should carefully design their cadence, depth, pointings and follow-up to find an unbiased sample of extremely faint members of this subclass of faint SNeIa., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJL
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- 2008
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33. GRB070610 : A Curious Galactic Transient
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Alicia M. Soderberg, Dale A. Frail, Sergio Campana, S. D. Barthelmy, H. A. Krimm, M. M. Kasliwal, P. B. Cameron, D. B. Fox, J. Cummings, Poonam Chandra, Ehud Nakar, Roman Krivonos, S. A. Grebenev, A. Rau, D. A. Perley, G. Sato, L. K. Pollack, Eran O. Ofek, S. R. Kulkarni, J. S. Bloom, R. A. Sunyaev, Neil Gehrels, Edo Berger, C. B. Markwardt, P. A. Price, and S. B. Cenko
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Physics ,Conjunction (astronomy) ,Astrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena ,Astrophysics (astro-ph) ,FOS: Physical sciences ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,Astrophysics ,Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics ,Coincidence ,Afterglow ,Black hole ,Laser guide star ,Space and Planetary Science ,Stellar black hole ,Gamma-ray burst ,Adaptive optics ,QC ,QB - Abstract
GRB 070610 is a typical high-energy event with a duration of 5s.Yet within the burst localization we detect a highly unusual X-ray and optical transient, SwiftJ195509.6+261406. We see high amplitude X-ray and optical variability on very short time scales even at late times. Using near-infrared imaging assisted by a laser guide star and adaptive optics, we identified the counterpart of SwiftJ195509.6+261406. Late-time optical and near-infrared imaging constrain the spectral type of the counterpart to be fainter than a K-dwarf assuming it is of Galactic origin. It is possible that GRB 070610 and Swift J195509.6+261406 are unrelated sources. However, the absence of a typical X-ray afterglow from GRB 070610 in conjunction with the spatial and temporal coincidence of the two motivate us to suggest that the sources are related. The closest (imperfect) analog to Swift J195509.6+261406 is V4641 Sgr, an unusual black hole binary. We suggest that Swift J195509.6+261406 along with V4641 Sgr define a sub-class of stellar black hole binaries -- the fast X-ray novae. We further suggest that fast X-ray novae are associated with bursts of gamma-rays. If so, GRB 070610 defines a new class of celestial gamma-ray bursts and these bursts dominate the long-duration GRB demographics, Comment: Substantially revised since additional late-time observations indicate the optical/IR counterpart to GRB070610 is very faint. Precise astrometry indicates that the original spectrum was of a very nearby brighter star but not the counterpart to GRB070610. Full resolution figures at http://www.astro.caltech.edu/~mansi/g070610.ps
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- 2007
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34. Multi-Wavelength Observations of GRB 050820A: An Exceptionally Energetic Event Followed from Start to Finish
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Eran O. Ofek, S. R. Kulkarni, Fiona A. Harrison, S. Golenetskii, Edo Berger, P. A. Price, D.-S. Moon, Roger A. Chevalier, S. B. Cenko, R. Aptekar, Ramazan Sari, V. Pal'Shin, Alicia Soderberg, P. J. McCarthy, D. D. Frederiks, N. Gehrels, J. A. Nousek, Avishay Gal-Yam, Ehud Nakar, S. E. Persson, P. B. Cameron, Tsvi Piran, M. M. Kasliwal, Bryan E. Penprase, D. B. Fox, D. N. Burrows, Brian P. Schmidt, and Dale A. Frail
- Subjects
Physics ,Shock (fluid dynamics) ,Astrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena ,Astrophysics (astro-ph) ,Flux ,FOS: Physical sciences ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,Astrophysics ,Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics ,Kinetic energy ,Light curve ,Afterglow ,Space and Planetary Science ,Adiabatic process ,Gamma-ray burst ,Event (particle physics) - Abstract
We present observations of the unusually bright and long gamma-ray burst GRB 050820A, one of the best-sampled broadband data sets in the Swift era. The gamma-ray light curve is marked by a soft precursor pulse some 200 s before the main event; the lack of any intervening emission suggests that it is due to a physical mechanism distinct from the GRB itself. The large time lag between the precursor and the main emission enabled simultaneous observations in the gamma-ray, X-ray, and optical band-passes, something only achieved for a handful of events to date. While the contemporaneous X-rays are the low-energy tail of the prompt emission, the optical does not directly track the gamma-ray flux. Instead, the early-time optical data appear mostly consistent with the forward shock synchrotron peak passing through the optical, and are therefore likely the beginning of the afterglow. On hour time scales after the burst, the X-ray and optical light curves are inconsistent with an adiabatic expansion of the shock into the surrounding region, but rather indicate that there is a period of energy injection. Observations at late times allow us to constrain the collimation angle of the relativistic outflow to theta = 6.8 - 9.3 degrees. Our estimates of both the kinetic energy of the afterglow and the prompt gamma-ray energy release make GRB 050820A one of the most energetic events for which such values could be determined., Comment: Accepted to ApJ; 18 pages, 8 figures; High resolution version available at http://www.srl.caltech.edu/~cenko/public/papers/grb050820a.ps
- Published
- 2006
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35. Confinement of supernova explosions in a collapsing cloud
- Author
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Richard V. E. Lovelace, J. R. Houck, and M. M. Kasliwal
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Physics ,Gravity (chemistry) ,business.industry ,Star formation ,Astrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena ,Astrophysics (astro-ph) ,Collapse (topology) ,FOS: Physical sciences ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,Cloud computing ,Astrophysics ,Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics ,01 natural sciences ,Ram pressure ,Supernova ,Space and Planetary Science ,0103 physical sciences ,Radiative transfer ,Astrophysics::Solar and Stellar Astrophysics ,010306 general physics ,business ,010303 astronomy & astrophysics ,Astrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysics ,Dwarf galaxy - Abstract
We analyze the confining effect of cloud collapse on an expanding supernova shockfront. We solve the differential equation for the forces on the shockfront due to ram pressure, supernova energy, and gravity. We find that the expansion of the shockfront is slowed and in fact reversed by the collapsing cloud. Including radiative losses and a potential time lag between supernova explosion and cloud collapse shows that the expansion is reversed at smaller distances as compared to the non-radiative case. We also consider the case of multiple supernova explosions at the center of a collapsing cloud. For instance, if we scale our self-similar solution to a single supernova of energy 10^51 ergs occurring when a cloud of initial density 10^2 H/cm^3 has collapsed by 50%, we find that the shockfront is confined to ~15 pc in ~1 Myrs. Our calculations are pertinent to the observed unusually compact non-thermal radio emission in blue compact dwarf galaxies (BCDs). More generally, we demonstrate the potential of a collapsing cloud to confine supernovae, thereby explaining how dwarf galaxies would exist beyond their first generation of star formation., 3 pages, 4 figures
- Published
- 2005
36. A VERY LARGE ARRAY SEARCH FOR 5 GHz RADIO TRANSIENTS AND VARIABLES AT LOW GALACTIC LATITUDES
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Eran O. Ofek, S. R. Kulkarni, B. Breslauer, Dale A. Frail, M. M. Kasliwal, Avishay Gal-Yam, N. Gehrels, and P. Chandra
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Physics ,Very large array ,Scintillation ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Structure function ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,Scale (descriptive set theory) ,Astrophysics ,Latitude ,Neutron star ,Space and Planetary Science ,Sky ,Area density ,media_common - Abstract
We present the results of a 5 GHz survey with the Very Large Array (VLA) and the expanded VLA, designed to search for short-lived (≾1 day) transients and to characterize the variability of radio sources at milli-Jansky levels. A total sky area of 2.66 deg^2, spread over 141 fields at low Galactic latitudes (b≅6-8 deg), was observed 16 times with a cadence that was chosen to sample timescales of days, months, and years. Most of the data were reduced, analyzed, and searched for transients in near real-time. Interesting candidates were followed up using visible light telescopes (typical delays of 1-2 hr) and the X-ray Telescope on board the Swift satellite. The final processing of the data revealed a single possible transient with a peak flux density of f_ν≅2.4 mJy. This implies a transient's sky surface density of κ(f_ν > 1.8 mJy) = 0.039^(+0.13 +0.18)_(–0.032,–0.038) deg^(–2) (1σ, 2σ confidence errors). This areal density is roughly consistent with the sky surface density of transients from the Bower et al. survey extrapolated to 1.8 mJy. Our observed transient areal density is consistent with a neutron star's origin for these events. Furthermore, we use the data to measure the source variability on timescales of days to years, and we present the variability structure function of 5 GHz sources. The mean structure function shows a fast increase on ≈1 day timescale, followed by a slower increase on timescales of up to 10 days. On timescales between 10 and 60 days, the structure function is roughly constant. We find that ≳30% of the unresolved sources brighter than 1.8 mJy are variables at the >4σ confidence level, presumably mainly due to refractive scintillation.
- Published
- 2011
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37. Carnegie Supernova Project-II: Near-infrared Spectroscopic Diversity of Type II Supernovae.
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S. Davis, E. Y. Hsiao, C. Ashall, P. Hoeflich, M. M. Phillips, G. H. Marion, R. P. Kirshner, N. Morrell, D. J. Sand, C. Burns, C. Contreras, M. Stritzinger, J. P. Anderson, E. Baron, T. Diamond, C. P. Gutiérrez, M. Hamuy, S. Holmbo, M. M. Kasliwal, and K. Krisciunas
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SUPERNOVAE ,SUPERGIANT stars ,LIGHT curves ,CONTINUOUS distributions ,BIG data ,SUPERNOVA remnants - Abstract
We present 81 near-infrared (NIR) spectra of 30 Type II supernovae (SNe II) from the Carnegie Supernova Project-II (CSP-II), the largest such data set published to date. We identify a number of NIR features and characterize their evolution over time. The NIR spectroscopic properties of SNe II fall into two distinct groups. This classification is first based on the strength of the He i λ1.083 μm absorption during the plateau phase; SNe II are either significantly above (spectroscopically strong) or below 50 Å (spectroscopically weak) in pseudo equivalent width. However, between the two groups other properties, such as the timing of CO formation and the presence of Sr ii, are also observed. Most surprisingly, the distinct weak and strong NIR spectroscopic classes correspond to SNe II with slow and fast declining light curves, respectively. These two photometric groups match the modern nomenclature of SNe IIP, which show a long duration plateau, and IIL, which have a linear declining light curve. Including NIR spectra previously published, 18 out of 19 SNe II follow this slow declining-spectroscopically weak and fast declining-spectroscopically strong correspondence. This is in apparent contradiction to the recent findings in the optical that slow and fast decliners show a continuous distribution of properties. The weak SNe II show a high-velocity component of helium that may be caused by a thermal excitation from a reverse shock created by the outer ejecta interacting with the red supergiant wind, but the origin of the observed dichotomy is not understood. Further studies are crucial in determining whether the apparent differences in the NIR are due to distinct physical processes or a gap in the current data set. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2019
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38. SPIRITS Catalog of Infrared Variables: Identification of Extremely Luminous Long Period Variables.
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V. R. Karambelkar, S. M. Adams, P. A. Whitelock, M. M. Kasliwal, J. E. Jencson, M. L. Boyer, S. R. Goldman, F. Masci, A. M. Cody, J. Bally, H. E. Bond, R. D. Gehrz, M. Parthasarathy, R. M. Lau, and Collaboration, SPIRITS
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VARIABLE stars ,LARGE magellanic cloud ,SPACE telescopes ,CATALOGS - Abstract
We present a catalog of 417 luminous infrared variable stars with periods exceeding 250 days. These were identified in 20 nearby galaxies by the ongoing SPitzer InfraRed Intensive Transients Survey survey with the Spitzer Space Telescope. Of these, 359 variables have M
[4.5] (phase-weighted mean magnitudes) fainter than −12 and periods and luminosities consistent with previously reported variables in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). However, 58 variables are more luminous than M[4.5] = −12, including 11 that are brighter than M[4.5] = −13, with the brightest having M[4.5] = −15.51. Most of these bright variable sources have quasi-periods longer than 1000 days, including four over 2000 days. We suggest that the fundamental period–luminosity relationship, previously measured for the LMC, extends to much higher luminosities and longer periods in this large galaxy sample. We posit that these variables include massive asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars (possibly super-AGB stars), red supergiants experiencing exceptionally high mass-loss rates, and interacting binaries. We also present 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, and 8.0 μm photometric catalogs for all sources in these 20 galaxies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]- Published
- 2019
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39. Rapid “Turn-on” of Type-1 AGN in a Quiescent Early-type Galaxy SDSS1115+0544.
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Lin Yan, Tinggui Wang, Ning Jiang, Daniel Stern, Liming Dou, C. Fremling, M. J. Graham, A. J. Drake, Chenwei Yang, K. Burdge, and M. M. Kasliwal
- Subjects
ACCRETION disks ,OPTICAL spectra ,LIGHT curves ,GALAXIES ,PHOTON echoes ,SEYFERT galaxies ,SOLAR corona - Abstract
We present a detailed study of a transient in the center of SDSS1115+0544 based on the extensive UV, optical, mid-IR light curves (LCs) and spectra over 1200 days. The host galaxy is a quiescent early-type galaxy at z = 0.0899 with a black hole mass of 2 × 10
7 M⊙ . The transient underwent a 2.5 mag brightening over ∼120 days, reaching a peak V-band luminosity (extinction corrected) of −20.9 mag, then fading 0.5 mag over 200 days, settling into a plateau of >600 days. Following the optical brightening are the significant mid-IR flares at 3.4 and 4.5 μm, with a peak time delay of ∼180 days. The mid-IR LCs are explained as the echo of UV photons by a dust medium with a radius of 5 × 1017 cm, consistent with E(B − V) of 0.58 inferred from the spectra. This event is very energetic with an extinction corrected Lbol ∼ 4 × 1044 erg s−1 . Optical spectra over 400 days in the plateau phase revealed newly formed broad Hα, β emission with a FWHM of ∼3750 km s−1 and narrow coronal lines such as [Fe vii], [Ne v]. This flare also has a steeply rising UV continuum, detected by multi-epoch Swift data at +700 to +900 days post optical peak. The broad Balmer lines and the UV continuum do not show significant temporal variations. The slow evolving LCs over 1200 days, the constant Balmer lines, and UV continuum at late times rule out tidal disruption event and SN IIn as the physical model for this event. We propose that this event is a “turn-on” AGN, transitioning from a quiescent state to a type-1 AGN with a sub-Eddington accretion rate of 0.017 M⊙ yr−1 . This change occurred on a very short timescale of ∼120–200 days. The discovery of such a rapid “turn-on” AGN poses challenges to accretion disk theories and suggests more future detections of similar events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]- Published
- 2019
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40. A Strong Jet Signature in the Late-time Light Curve of GW170817.
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K. P. Mooley, D. A. Frail, D. Dobie, E. Lenc, A. Corsi, K. De, A. J. Nayana, S. Makhathini, I. Heywood, T. Murphy, D. L. Kaplan, P. Chandra, O. Smirnov, E. Nakar, G. Hallinan, F. Camilo, R. Fender, S. Goedhart, P. Groot, and M. M. Kasliwal
- Published
- 2018
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41. A Case Study of On-the-fly Wide-field Radio Imaging Applied to the Gravitational Wave Event GW151226.
- Author
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K. P. Mooley, D. A. Frail, S. T. Myers, S. R. Kulkarni, K. Hotokezaka, L. P. Singer, A. Horesh, M. M. Kasliwal, S. B. Cenko, and G. Hallinan
- Subjects
VERY large array telescopes ,BLACK holes ,GRAVITATIONAL wave astronomy ,AFTERGLOW (Physics) ,SOLAR radio emission - Abstract
We apply a newly developed on-the-fly mosaicing technique on the Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) at 3 GHz in order to carry out a sensitive search for an afterglow from the Advanced LIGO binary black hole merger event GW151226. In three epochs between 1.5 and 6 months post-merger, we observed a 100 deg
2 region, with more than 80% of the survey region having an rms sensitivity of better than 150 μJy/beam, in the northern hemisphere with a merger containment probability of 10%. The data were processed in near real time and analyzed to search for transients and variables. No transients were found but we have demonstrated the ability to conduct blind searches in a time-frequency phase space where the predicted afterglow signals are strongest. If the gravitational wave event is contained within our survey region, the upper limit on any late-time radio afterglow from the merger event at an assumed mean distance of 440 Mpc is about 1029 erg s−1 Hz−1 . Approximately 1.5% of the radio sources in the field showed variability at a level of 30%, and can be attributed to normal activity from active galactic nuclei. The low rate of false positives in the radio sky suggests that wide-field imaging searches at a few Gigahertz can be an efficient and competitive search strategy. We discuss our search method in the context of the recent afterglow detection from GW170817 and radio follow-up in future gravitational wave observing runs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]- Published
- 2018
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42. Early Observations of the Type Ia Supernova iPTF 16abc: A Case of Interaction with Nearby, Unbound Material and/or Strong Ejecta Mixing.
- Author
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A. A. Miller, Y. Cao, A. L. Piro, N. Blagorodnova, B. D. Bue, S. B. Cenko, S. Dhawan, R. Ferretti, O. D. Fox, C. Fremling, A. Goobar, D. A. Howell, G. Hosseinzadeh, M. M. Kasliwal, R. R. Laher, R. Lunnan, F. J. Masci, C. McCully, P. E. Nugent, and J. Sollerman
- Subjects
SUPERNOVAE ,ASTROPHYSICAL collisions ,CATACLYSMIC variable stars ,BINARY stars ,MAGNETIC flux - Abstract
Early observations of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) provide a unique probe of their progenitor systems and explosion physics. Here we report the intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (iPTF) discovery of an extraordinarily young SN Ia, iPTF 16abc. By fitting a power law to our early light curve, we infer that first light for the SN, that is, when the SN could have first been detected by our survey, occurred only days before our first detection. In the ∼24 hr after discovery, iPTF 16abc rose by ∼2 mag, featuring a near-linear rise in flux for days. Early spectra show strong C ii absorption, which disappears after ∼7 days. Unlike the extensively observed Type Ia SN 2011fe, the colors of iPTF 16abc are blue and nearly constant in the days after explosion. We show that our early observations of iPTF 16abc cannot be explained by either SN shock breakout and the associated, subsequent cooling or the SN ejecta colliding with a stellar companion. Instead, we argue that the early characteristics of iPTF 16abc, including (i) the rapid, near-linear rise, (ii) the nonevolving blue colors, and (iii) the strong C ii absorption, are the result of either ejecta interaction with nearby, unbound material or vigorous mixing of radioactive
56 Ni in the SN ejecta, or a combination of the two. In the next few years, dozens of very young normal SNe Ia will be discovered, and observations similar to those presented here will constrain the white dwarf explosion mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]- Published
- 2018
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43. PTF11mnb: First analog of supernova 2005bf
- Author
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F. Taddia, J. Sollerman, C. Fremling, E. Karamehmetoglu, R. M. Quimby, A. Gal-Yam, O. Yaron, M. M. Kasliwal, S. R. Kulkarni, P. E. Nugent, G. Smadja, and C. Tao
- Subjects
SN 2005bf ,astro-ph.HE ,individual: PTF11mnb [supernovae] ,astro-ph.SR ,astro-ph.CO ,Astronomy & Astrophysics ,iPTF15dtg ,general [supernovae] ,Astronomical and Space Sciences - Abstract
Aims. We study PTF11mnb, a He-poor supernova (SN) whose light curves resemble those of SN 2005bf, a peculiar double-peaked stripped-envelope (SE) SN, until the declining phase after the main peak. We investigate the mechanism powering its light curve and the nature of its progenitor star. Methods. Optical photometry and spectroscopy of PTF11mnb are presented. We compared light curves, colors and spectral properties to those of SN 2005bf and normal SE SNe. We built a bolometric light curve and modeled this light curve with the SuperNova Explosion Code (SNEC) hydrodynamical code explosion of a MESA progenitor star and semi-analytic models. Results. The light curve of PTF11mnb turns out to be similar to that of SN 2005bf until ~50 d when the main (secondary) peaks occur at -18.5 mag. The early peak occurs at ~20 d and is about 1.0 mag fainter. After the main peak, the decline rate of PTF11mnb is remarkably slower than what was observed in SN 2005bf, and it traces well the 56Co decay rate. The spectra of PTF11mnb reveal a SN Ic and have no traces of He unlike in the case of SN Ib 2005bf, although they have velocities comparable to those of SN 2005bf. The whole evolution of the bolometric light curve is well reproduced by the explosion of a massive (Mej = 7.8 MȮ), He-poor star characterized by a double-peaked 56Ni distribution, a total 56Ni mass of 0.59 MȮ, and an explosion energy of 2.2 × 1051 erg. Alternatively, a normal SN Ib/c explosion (M(56Ni) = 0.11 MȮ, EK = 0.2 × 1051 erg, Mej = 1 MȮ) can power the first peak while a magnetar, with a magnetic field characterized by B = 5.0 × 1014 G, and a rotation period of P = 18.1 ms, provides energy for the main peak. The early g-band light curve can be fit with a shock-breakout cooling tail or an extended envelope model from which a radius of at least 30 RȮ is obtained. Conclusions. We presented a scenario where PTF11mnb was the explosion of a massive, He-poor star, characterized by a double-peaked 56Ni distribution. In this case, the ejecta mass and the absence of He imply a large ZAMS mass (~85 MȮ) for the progenitor, which most likely was a Wolf-Rayet star, surrounded by an extended envelope formed either by a pre-SN eruption or due to a binary configuration. Alternatively, PTF11mnb could be powered by a SE SN with a less massive progenitor during the first peak and by a magnetar afterward.
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44. iPTF 16asu: A Luminous, Rapidly Evolving, and High-velocity Supernova.
- Author
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L. Whitesides, R. Lunnan, M. M. Kasliwal, D. A. Perley, A. Corsi, S. B. Cenko, N. Blagorodnova, Y. Cao, D. O. Cook, G. B. Doran, D. D. Frederiks, C. Fremling, K. Hurley, E. Karamehmetoglu, S. R. Kulkarni, G. Leloudas, F. Masci, P. E. Nugent, A. Ritter, and A. Rubin
- Subjects
NOCTILUCENT clouds ,SUPERNOVAE ,SOLAR energy ,STELLAR luminosity function ,STAR formation - Abstract
Wide-field surveys are discovering a growing number of rare transients whose physical origin is not yet well understood. Here we present optical and UV data and analysis of intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (iPTF) 16asu, a luminous, rapidly evolving, high-velocity, stripped-envelope supernova (SN). With a rest-frame rise time of just four days and a peak absolute magnitude of mag, the light curve of iPTF 16asu is faster and more luminous than that of previous rapid transients. The spectra of iPTF 16asu show a featureless blue continuum near peak that develops into an SN Ic-BL spectrum on the decline. We show that while the late-time light curve could plausibly be powered by
56 Ni decay, the early emission requires a different energy source. Nondetections in the X-ray and radio strongly constrain the energy coupled to relativistic ejecta to be at most comparable to the class of low-luminosity gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). We suggest that the early emission may have been powered by either a rapidly spinning-down magnetar or by shock breakout in an extended envelope of a very energetic explosion. In either scenario a central engine is required, making iPTF 16asu an intriguing transition object between superluminous SNe, SNe Ic-BL, and low-luminosity GRBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]- Published
- 2017
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45. Color Me Intrigued: The Discovery of iPTF 16fnm, an SN 2002cx–like Object.
- Author
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A. A. Miller, D. A. Perley, R. M. Quimby, U. D. Rebbapragada, J. Sollerman, F. Taddia, M. M. Kasliwal, S. M. Adams, R. Lunnan, S. R. Kulkarni, Y. Cao, A. Goobar, T. Petrushevska, S. Knežević, R. R. Laher, F. J. Masci, and P. E. Nugent
- Subjects
TYPE I supernovae ,ASTRONOMICAL observations ,LUMINOSITY ,VELOCITY ,SUPERNOVAE spectra ,ASTRONOMICAL surveys - Abstract
Modern wide-field, optical time-domain surveys must solve a basic optimization problem: maximize the number of transient discoveries or minimize the follow-up needed for the new discoveries. Here, we describe the Color Me Intrigued experiment, the first from the intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (iPTF) to search for transients simultaneously in the g
PTF and RPTF bands. During the course of this experiment, we discovered iPTF 16fnm, a new member of the 02cx-like subclass of Type Ia supernovae (SNe). iPTF 16fnm peaked at , making it the second-least-luminous known SN Ia. iPTF 16fnm exhibits all the hallmarks of the 02cx-like class: (i) low luminosity at peak, (ii) low ejecta velocities, and (iii) a non-nebular spectrum several months after peak. Spectroscopically, iPTF 16fnm exhibits a striking resemblance to two other low-luminosity 02cx-like SNe: SN 2007qd and SN 2010ae. iPTF 16fnm and SN 2005hk decline at nearly the same rate, despite a 3 mag difference in brightness at peak. When considering the full subclass of 02cx-like SNe, we do not find evidence for a tight correlation between peak luminosity and decline rate in either the g′ or r′ band. We measure the relative rate of 02cx-like SNe to normal SNe Ia and find . We further examine the g′ − r′ evolution of 02cx-like SNe and find that their unique color evolution can be used to separate them from 91bg-like and normal SNe Ia. This selection function will be especially important in the spectroscopically incomplete Zwicky Transient Facility/Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) era. Finally, we close by recommending that LSST periodically evaluate, and possibly update, its observing cadence to maximize transient science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]- Published
- 2017
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46. iPTF17cw: An Engine-driven Supernova Candidate Discovered Independent of a Gamma-Ray Trigger.
- Author
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A. Corsi, S. B. Cenko, M. M. Kasliwal, R. Quimby, S. R. Kulkarni, D. A. Frail, A. M. Goldstein, N. Blagorodnova, V. Connaughton, D. A. Perley, L. P. Singer, C. M. Copperwheat, C. Fremling, T. Kupfer, A. S. Piascik, I. A. Steele, F. Taddia, H. Vedantham, A. Kutyrev, and N. T. Palliyaguru
- Subjects
ACTIVE galaxies ,GRAVITATIONAL waves ,MAGNETARS ,ASTROPHYSICS ,GAMMA ray astronomy - Abstract
We present the discovery, classification, and radio-to-X-ray follow-up observations of iPTF17cw, a broad-lined (BL) type Ic supernova (SN) discovered by the intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (iPTF). Although it is unrelated to the gravitational wave trigger, this SN was discovered as a happy by-product of the extensive observational campaign dedicated to the follow-up of Advanced LIGO event GW 170104. The spectroscopic properties and inferred peak bolometric luminosity of iPTF17cw are most similar to the gamma-ray-burst (GRB)-associated SN, SN 1998bw, while the shape of the r-band light curve is most similar to that of the relativistic SN, SN 2009bb. Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) observations of the iPTF17cw field reveal a radio counterpart ≈10 times less luminous than SN 1998bw, and with a peak radio luminosity comparable to that of SN 2006aj/GRB 060218 and SN 2010bh/GRB 100316D. Our radio observations of iPTF17cw imply a relativistically expanding outflow. However, further late-time observations with the VLA in its most extended configuration are needed to confirm fading of the iPTF17cw radio counterpart at all frequencies. X-ray observations carried out with Chandra reveal the presence of an X-ray counterpart with a luminosity similar to that of SN 2010bh/GRB 100316D. Searching the Fermi catalog for possible γ-rays reveals that GRB 161228B is spatially and temporally compatible with iPTF17cw. The similarity to SN 1998bw and SN 2009bb, the radio and X-ray detections, and the potential association with GRB 161228B all point to iPTF17cw being a new candidate member of the rare sample of optically discovered engine-driven BL-Ic SNe associated with relativistic ejecta. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2017
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47. A Tale of Two Transients: GW 170104 and GRB 170105A.
- Author
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V. Bhalerao, M. M. Kasliwal, D. Bhattacharya, A. Corsi, E. Aarthy, S. M. Adams, N. Blagorodnova, T. Cantwell, S. B. Cenko, R. Fender, D. Frail, R. Itoh, J. Jencson, N. Kawai, A. K. H. Kong, T. Kupfer, A. Kutyrev, J. Mao, S. Mate, and N. P. S. Mithun
- Subjects
- *
TRANSIENTS (Dynamics) , *WAVELENGTHS , *SPECTRAL counterparts , *GRAVITATIONAL waves - Abstract
We present multi-wavelength follow-up campaigns by the AstroSat CZTI and GROWTH collaborations in search of an electromagnetic counterpart to the gravitational wave event GW 170104. At the time of the GW 170104 trigger, the AstroSat CZTI field of view covered 50.3% of the sky localization. We do not detect any hard X-ray (>100 keV) signal at this time, and place an upper limit of , for a 1 s timescale. Separately, the ATLAS survey reported a rapidly fading optical source dubbed ATLAS17aeu in the error circle of GW 170104. Our panchromatic investigation of ATLAS17aeu shows that it is the afterglow of an unrelated long, soft GRB 170105A, with only a fortuitous spatial coincidence with GW 170104. We then discuss the properties of this transient in the context of standard long GRB afterglow models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2017
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- View/download PDF
48. iPTF16fnl: A Faint and Fast Tidal Disruption Event in an E+A Galaxy.
- Author
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N. Blagorodnova, S. Gezari, T. Hung, S. R. Kulkarni, S. B. Cenko, D. R. Pasham, L. Yan, I. Arcavi, S. Ben-Ami, B. D. Bue, T. Cantwell, Y. Cao, A. J. Castro-Tirado, R. Fender, C. Fremling, A. Gal-Yam, A. Y. Q. Ho, A. Horesh, G. Hosseinzadeh, and M. M. Kasliwal
- Subjects
STELLAR luminosity function ,EXPONENTIAL decay law ,ACCRETION disks ,BLACK holes ,LUMINOSITY distance ,X-ray telescopes - Abstract
We present ground-based and Swift observations of iPTF16fnl, a likely tidal disruption event (TDE) discovered by the intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (iPTF) survey at 66.6 Mpc. The light curve of the object peaked at an absolute mag . The maximum bolometric luminosity (from optical and UV) was erg s
−1 , an order of magnitude fainter than any other optical TDE discovered so far. The luminosity in the first 60 days is consistent with an exponential decay, with , where t0 = 57631.0 (MJD) and days. The X-ray shows a marginal detection at erg s−1 (Swift X-ray Telescope). No radio counterpart was detected down to 3σ, providing upper limits for monochromatic radio luminosities of erg s−1 and erg s−1 (Very Large Array, 6.1 and 22 GHz). The blackbody temperature, obtained from combined Swift UV and optical photometry, shows a constant value of 19,000 K. The transient spectrum at peak is characterized by broad He ii and Hα emission lines, with FWHMs of about 14,000 km s−1 and 10,000 km s−1 , respectively. He i lines are also detected at λλ 5875 and 6678. The spectrum of the host is dominated by strong Balmer absorption lines, which are consistent with a post-starburst (E+A) galaxy with an age of ∼650 Myr and solar metallicity. The characteristics of iPTF16fnl make it an outlier on both luminosity and decay timescales, as compared to other optically selected TDEs. The discovery of such a faint optical event suggests a higher rate of tidal disruptions, as low-luminosity events may have gone unnoticed in previous searches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]- Published
- 2017
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
49. First Detection of Mid-infrared Variability from an Ultraluminous X-Ray Source Holmberg II X-1.
- Author
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R. M. Lau, M. Heida, M. M. Kasliwal, and D. J. Walton
- Published
- 2017
- Full Text
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50. Two New Calcium-rich Gap Transients in Group and Cluster Environments.
- Author
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R. Lunnan, M. M. Kasliwal, Y. Cao, L. Hangard, O. Yaron, J. T. Parrent, C. McCully, A. Gal-Yam, J. S. Mulchaey, S. Ben-Ami, A. V. Filippenko, C. Fremling, A. S. Fruchter, D. A. Howell, J. Koda, T. Kupfer, S. R. Kulkarni, R. Laher, F. Masci, and P. E. Nugent
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PHOTOMETRIC stereo , *MICROWAVE reflectometry , *SPECTROSCOPIC light sources , *GAMMA ray bursts , *STAR clusters - Abstract
We present the Palomar Transient Factory discoveries and the photometric and spectroscopic observations of PTF11kmb and PTF12bho. We show that both transients have properties consistent with the class of calcium-rich gap transients, specifically lower peak luminosities and rapid evolution compared to ordinary supernovae, and a nebular spectrum dominated by [Ca ii] emission. A striking feature of both transients is their host environments: PTF12bho is an intracluster transient in the Coma Cluster, while PTF11kmb is located in a loose galaxy group, at a physical offset ∼150 kpc from the most likely host galaxy. Deep Subaru imaging of PTF12bho rules out an underlying host system to a limit of , while Hubble Space Telescope imaging of PTF11kmb reveals a marginal counterpart that, if real, could be either a background galaxy or a globular cluster. We show that the offset distribution of Ca-rich gap transients is significantly more extreme than that seen for SNe Ia or even short-hard gamma-ray bursts (sGRBs). Thus, if the offsets are caused by a kick, they require higher kick velocities and/or longer merger times than sGRBs. We also show that almost all Ca-rich transients found to date are in group and cluster environments with elliptical host galaxies, indicating a very old progenitor population; the remote locations could partially be explained by these environments having the largest fraction of stars in the intragroup/intracluster light following galaxy–galaxy interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2017
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
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