Metallicity at the explosion sites of interacting transients
Journal
Date Issued
2015
Author(s)
Taddia, F.
•
Sollerman, J.
•
Fremling, C.
•
•
Leloudas, G.
•
Fransson, C.
•
Nyholm, A.
•
Stritzinger, M. D.
•
Ergon, M.
•
Roy, R.
•
Migotto, K.
Description
We gratefully acknowledge the support from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation. A. Pastorello is partially supported by the PRIN-INAF 2014 with the project “transient Universe: unveiling new types of stellar explosions with PESSTO”. M. D. Stritzinger gratefully acknowledges generous support provided by the Danish Agency for Science and Technology and Innovation realized through a Sapere Aude Level 2 grant. The Oskar Klein Centre is funded by the Swedish Research Council. The Nordic Optical Telescope is operated by the Nordic Optical Telescope Scientific Association at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos, La Palma, Spain, of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias. This research has made use of the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED), which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Abstract
Context. Some circumstellar-interacting (CSI) supernovae (SNe) are produced by the explosions of massive stars that have lost mass shortly before the SN explosion. There is evidence that the precursors of some SNe IIn were luminous blue variable (LBV) stars. For a small number of CSI SNe, outbursts have been observed before the SN explosion. Eruptive events of massive stars are named SN impostors (SN IMs) and whether they herald a forthcoming SN or not is still unclear. The large variety of observational properties of CSI SNe suggests the existence of other progenitors, such as red supergiant (RSG) stars with superwinds. Furthermore, the role of metallicity in the mass loss of CSI SN progenitors is still largely unexplored.
Aims: Our goal is to gain insight into the nature of the progenitor stars of CSI SNe by studying their environments, in particular the metallicity at their locations.
Methods: We obtain metallicity measurements at the location of 60 transients (including SNe IIn, SNe Ibn, and SN IMs) via emission-line diagnostic on optical spectra obtained at the Nordic Optical Telescope and through public archives. Metallicity values from the literature complement our sample. We compare the metallicity distributions among the different CSI SN subtypes, and to those of other core-collapse SN types. We also search for possible correlations between metallicity and CSI SN observational properties.
Results: We find that SN IMs tend to occur in environments with lower metallicity than those of SNe IIn. Among SNe IIn, SN IIn-L(1998S-like) SNe show higher metallicities, similar to those of SNe IIL/P, whereas long-lasting SNe IIn (1988Z-like) show lower metallicities, similar to those of SN IMs. The metallicity distribution of SNe IIn can be reproduced by combining the metallicity distributions of SN IMs (which may be produced by major outbursts of massive stars like LBVs) and SNe IIP (produced by RSGs). The same applies to the distributions of the normalized cumulative rank (NCR) values, which quantifies the SN association to H ii regions. For SNe IIn, we find larger mass-loss rates and higher CSM velocities at higher metallicities. The luminosity increment in the optical bands during SN IM outbursts tend to be larger at higher metallicity, whereas the SN IM quiescent optical luminosities tend to be lower.
Conclusions: The difference in metallicity between SNe IIn and SN IMs indicates that LBVs are only one of the progenitor channels for SNe IIn, with 1988Z-like and 1998S-like SNe possibly arising from LBVs and RSGs, respectively. Finally, even though line-driven winds likely do not primarily drive the late mass-loss of CSI SN progenitors, metallicity has some impact on the observational properties of these transients.
Aims: Our goal is to gain insight into the nature of the progenitor stars of CSI SNe by studying their environments, in particular the metallicity at their locations.
Methods: We obtain metallicity measurements at the location of 60 transients (including SNe IIn, SNe Ibn, and SN IMs) via emission-line diagnostic on optical spectra obtained at the Nordic Optical Telescope and through public archives. Metallicity values from the literature complement our sample. We compare the metallicity distributions among the different CSI SN subtypes, and to those of other core-collapse SN types. We also search for possible correlations between metallicity and CSI SN observational properties.
Results: We find that SN IMs tend to occur in environments with lower metallicity than those of SNe IIn. Among SNe IIn, SN IIn-L(1998S-like) SNe show higher metallicities, similar to those of SNe IIL/P, whereas long-lasting SNe IIn (1988Z-like) show lower metallicities, similar to those of SN IMs. The metallicity distribution of SNe IIn can be reproduced by combining the metallicity distributions of SN IMs (which may be produced by major outbursts of massive stars like LBVs) and SNe IIP (produced by RSGs). The same applies to the distributions of the normalized cumulative rank (NCR) values, which quantifies the SN association to H ii regions. For SNe IIn, we find larger mass-loss rates and higher CSM velocities at higher metallicities. The luminosity increment in the optical bands during SN IM outbursts tend to be larger at higher metallicity, whereas the SN IM quiescent optical luminosities tend to be lower.
Conclusions: The difference in metallicity between SNe IIn and SN IMs indicates that LBVs are only one of the progenitor channels for SNe IIn, with 1988Z-like and 1998S-like SNe possibly arising from LBVs and RSGs, respectively. Finally, even though line-driven winds likely do not primarily drive the late mass-loss of CSI SN progenitors, metallicity has some impact on the observational properties of these transients.
Based on observations performed at the Nordic Optical Telescope (Proposal numbers: P45-004, P49-016; PI: F. Taddia), La Palma, Spain.Tables 1-3, 5-7 and Figs. 4-7, 11-14 are available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org
Volume
580
Start page
A131
Issn Identifier
0004-6361
Ads BibCode
2015A&A...580A.131T
Rights
open.access
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