Circumstellar Medium Constraints on the Environment of Two Nearby Type Ia Supernovae: SN 2017cbv and SN 2020n1b Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Abstract We present deep Chandra X-ray observations of two nearby Type Ia supernovae, SN 2017cbv and SN 2020nlb, which reveal no X-ray emission down to a luminosity L X 5.3 1037 and 5.4 1037 erg s1 (0.310 keV), respectively, at 1618 days after the explosion. With these limits, we constrain the pre-explosion mass-loss rate of the progenitor system to be M < 7.2 109 and < 9.7 109 M yr1 for each (at a wind velocity v w = 100 km s1 and a radius of R 1016 cm), assuming any X-ray emission would originate from inverse Compton emission from optical photons upscattered by the supernova shock. If the supernova environment was a constant-density medium, we would find a number density limit of n CSM < 36 and < 65 cm3, respectively. These X-ray limits rule out all plausible symbiotic progenitor systems, as well as large swathes of parameter space associated with the single degenerate scenario, such as mass loss at the outer Lagrange point and accretion winds. We also present late-time optical spectroscopy of SN 2020nlb, and set strong limits on any swept up hydrogen (L H < 2.7 1037 erg s1) and helium (L He,6678 < 2.7 1037 erg s1) from a nondegenerate companion, corresponding to M H 0.72 103 M and M He 4 103 M . Radio observations of SN 2020nlb at 14.6 days after explosion also yield a non-detection, ruling out most plausible symbiotic progenitor systems. While we have doubled the sample of normal Type Ia supernovae with deep X-ray limits, more observations are needed to sample the full range of luminosities and subtypes of these explosions, and set statistical constraints on their circumbinary environments.

published proceedings

  • ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL

altmetric score

  • 7.58

author list (cited authors)

  • Sand, D. J., Sarbadhicary, S. K., Pellegrino, C., Misra, K., Dastidar, R., Brown, P. J., ... Wyatt, S.

citation count

  • 3

complete list of authors

  • Sand, DJ||Sarbadhicary, SK||Pellegrino, C||Misra, K||Dastidar, R||Brown, PJ||Itagaki, K||Valenti, S||Swift, Jonathan J||Andrews, JE||Bostroem, KA||Burke, J||Chomiuk, L||Dong, Y||Galbany, L||Graham, ML||Hiramatsu, D||Howell, DA||Hsiao, EY||Janzen, D||Jencson, JE||Lundquist, MJ||McCully, C||Reichart, D||Smith, Nathan||Wang, Lingzhi||Wyatt, S

publication date

  • November 2021