X-ray limits on the progenitor system of the Type Ia supernova 2017ejb

Charles D. Kilpatrick; David A. Coulter; Georgios Dimitriadis; Ryan J. Foley; David O. Jones; Yen Chen Pan; Anthony L. Piro; Armin Rest; César Rojas-Bravo

doi:10.1093/mnras/sty2503

X-ray limits on the progenitor system of the Type Ia supernova 2017ejb

Charles D. Kilpatrick^*, David A. Coulter, Georgios Dimitriadis, Ryan J. Foley, David O. Jones, Yen Chen Pan, Anthony L. Piro, Armin Rest, César Rojas-Bravo

^*Corresponding author for this work

CIERA - Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

We present deep X-ray limits on the presence of a pre-explosion counterpart to the lowluminosity Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) 2017ejb. SN 2017ejb was discovered in NGC 4696, a well-studied elliptical galaxy in the Centaurus cluster with 894 ks of Chandra imaging between 14 and 3 yr before SN 2017ejb was discovered. Using post-explosion photometry and spectroscopy of SN 2017ejb, we demonstrate that SN 2017ejb is most consistent with low-luminosity SNe Ia such as SN 1986G and SN 1991bg. Analysing the location of SN 2017ejb in pre-explosion images, we do not detect a pre-explosion X-ray source.We use these data to place upper limits on the presence of any unobscured supersoft X-ray source (SSS). SSS systems are known to consist of white dwarfs (WDs) accreting from a non-degenerate companion star. We rule out any source similar to known SSS systems with kT_eff > 85 eV and L_bol > 4 × 10³⁸ erg s^-1 as well as models of stably accreting Chandrasekhar-mass WDs with accretion rates M > 3 × 10^-7M_⊙ yr^-1. These findings suggest that low-luminosity SNe Ia similar to SN 2017ejb explode from WDs that are low-mass, have low pre-explosion accretion rates, or accrete very soon before explosion. Based on the limits from SN 2017ejb and other nearby SNe Ia, we infer that < 47 per cent of SNe Ia explode in stably accreting Chandrasekhar-mass SSS systems.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	4123-4132
Number of pages	10
Journal	Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume	481
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/sty2503
State	Published - Dec 11 2018

Funding

DOJ is supported by a Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, Santa Cruz. 3http://americano.dolphinsim.com/dolphot/dolphotACS.pdf 4https://acszeropoints.stsci.edu/ 5www.pessto.org 6IRAF, the Image Reduction and Analysis Facility, is distributed by the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation (NSF). 7From http://archive.eso.org/cms.html The UCSC team is supported in part by NASA grant NNG17PX03C, NSF grant AST–1518052, the Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation, the Heising-Simons Foundation, and by fellowships from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation to RJF.

Keywords

Supernovae: general
Supernovae: individual: SN 2017ejb
X-rays: general

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Astronomy and Astrophysics
Space and Planetary Science

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10.1093/mnras/sty2503

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@article{2afec6c18b774875b36c70e013a36cfc,

title = "X-ray limits on the progenitor system of the Type Ia supernova 2017ejb",

abstract = "We present deep X-ray limits on the presence of a pre-explosion counterpart to the lowluminosity Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) 2017ejb. SN 2017ejb was discovered in NGC 4696, a well-studied elliptical galaxy in the Centaurus cluster with 894 ks of Chandra imaging between 14 and 3 yr before SN 2017ejb was discovered. Using post-explosion photometry and spectroscopy of SN 2017ejb, we demonstrate that SN 2017ejb is most consistent with low-luminosity SNe Ia such as SN 1986G and SN 1991bg. Analysing the location of SN 2017ejb in pre-explosion images, we do not detect a pre-explosion X-ray source.We use these data to place upper limits on the presence of any unobscured supersoft X-ray source (SSS). SSS systems are known to consist of white dwarfs (WDs) accreting from a non-degenerate companion star. We rule out any source similar to known SSS systems with kTeff > 85 eV and Lbol > 4 × 1038 erg s-1 as well as models of stably accreting Chandrasekhar-mass WDs with accretion rates M > 3 × 10-7M⊙ yr-1. These findings suggest that low-luminosity SNe Ia similar to SN 2017ejb explode from WDs that are low-mass, have low pre-explosion accretion rates, or accrete very soon before explosion. Based on the limits from SN 2017ejb and other nearby SNe Ia, we infer that < 47 per cent of SNe Ia explode in stably accreting Chandrasekhar-mass SSS systems.",

keywords = "Supernovae: general, Supernovae: individual: SN 2017ejb, X-rays: general",

author = "Kilpatrick, {Charles D.} and Coulter, {David A.} and Georgios Dimitriadis and Foley, {Ryan J.} and Jones, {David O.} and Pan, {Yen Chen} and Piro, {Anthony L.} and Armin Rest and C{\'e}sar Rojas-Bravo",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2018 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.",

year = "2018",

month = dec,

day = "11",

doi = "10.1093/mnras/sty2503",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "481",

pages = "4123--4132",

journal = "Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society",

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T1 - X-ray limits on the progenitor system of the Type Ia supernova 2017ejb

AU - Kilpatrick, Charles D.

AU - Coulter, David A.

AU - Dimitriadis, Georgios

AU - Foley, Ryan J.

AU - Jones, David O.

AU - Pan, Yen Chen

AU - Piro, Anthony L.

AU - Rest, Armin

AU - Rojas-Bravo, César

PY - 2018/12/11

Y1 - 2018/12/11

N2 - We present deep X-ray limits on the presence of a pre-explosion counterpart to the lowluminosity Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) 2017ejb. SN 2017ejb was discovered in NGC 4696, a well-studied elliptical galaxy in the Centaurus cluster with 894 ks of Chandra imaging between 14 and 3 yr before SN 2017ejb was discovered. Using post-explosion photometry and spectroscopy of SN 2017ejb, we demonstrate that SN 2017ejb is most consistent with low-luminosity SNe Ia such as SN 1986G and SN 1991bg. Analysing the location of SN 2017ejb in pre-explosion images, we do not detect a pre-explosion X-ray source.We use these data to place upper limits on the presence of any unobscured supersoft X-ray source (SSS). SSS systems are known to consist of white dwarfs (WDs) accreting from a non-degenerate companion star. We rule out any source similar to known SSS systems with kTeff > 85 eV and Lbol > 4 × 1038 erg s-1 as well as models of stably accreting Chandrasekhar-mass WDs with accretion rates M > 3 × 10-7M⊙ yr-1. These findings suggest that low-luminosity SNe Ia similar to SN 2017ejb explode from WDs that are low-mass, have low pre-explosion accretion rates, or accrete very soon before explosion. Based on the limits from SN 2017ejb and other nearby SNe Ia, we infer that < 47 per cent of SNe Ia explode in stably accreting Chandrasekhar-mass SSS systems.

AB - We present deep X-ray limits on the presence of a pre-explosion counterpart to the lowluminosity Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) 2017ejb. SN 2017ejb was discovered in NGC 4696, a well-studied elliptical galaxy in the Centaurus cluster with 894 ks of Chandra imaging between 14 and 3 yr before SN 2017ejb was discovered. Using post-explosion photometry and spectroscopy of SN 2017ejb, we demonstrate that SN 2017ejb is most consistent with low-luminosity SNe Ia such as SN 1986G and SN 1991bg. Analysing the location of SN 2017ejb in pre-explosion images, we do not detect a pre-explosion X-ray source.We use these data to place upper limits on the presence of any unobscured supersoft X-ray source (SSS). SSS systems are known to consist of white dwarfs (WDs) accreting from a non-degenerate companion star. We rule out any source similar to known SSS systems with kTeff > 85 eV and Lbol > 4 × 1038 erg s-1 as well as models of stably accreting Chandrasekhar-mass WDs with accretion rates M > 3 × 10-7M⊙ yr-1. These findings suggest that low-luminosity SNe Ia similar to SN 2017ejb explode from WDs that are low-mass, have low pre-explosion accretion rates, or accrete very soon before explosion. Based on the limits from SN 2017ejb and other nearby SNe Ia, we infer that < 47 per cent of SNe Ia explode in stably accreting Chandrasekhar-mass SSS systems.

KW - Supernovae: general

KW - Supernovae: individual: SN 2017ejb

KW - X-rays: general

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U2 - 10.1093/mnras/sty2503

DO - 10.1093/mnras/sty2503

M3 - Article

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JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

JF - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

IS - 3

ER -

X-ray limits on the progenitor system of the Type Ia supernova 2017ejb

Abstract

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