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- Title
A faint type of supernova from a white dwarf with a helium-rich companion.
- Authors
Perets, H. B.; Gal-Yam, A.; Mazzali, P. A.; Arnett, D.; Kagan, D.; Filippenko, A. V.; Li, W.; Arcavi, I.; Cenko, S. B.; Fox, D. B.; Leonard, D. C.; Moon, D.-S.; Sand, D. J.; Soderberg, A. M.; Anderson, J. P.; James, P. A.; Foley, R. J.; Ganeshalingam, M.; Ofek, E. O.; Bildsten, L.
- Abstract
Supernovae are thought to arise from two different physical processes. The cores of massive, short-lived stars undergo gravitational core collapse and typically eject a few solar masses during their explosion. These are thought to appear as type Ib/c and type II supernovae, and are associated with young stellar populations. In contrast, the thermonuclear detonation of a carbon-oxygen white dwarf, whose mass approaches the Chandrasekhar limit, is thought to produce type Ia supernovae. Such supernovae are observed in both young and old stellar environments. Here we report a faint type Ib supernova, SN 2005E, in the halo of the nearby isolated galaxy, NGC 1032. The ‘old’ environment near the supernova location, and the very low derived ejected mass (∼0.3 solar masses), argue strongly against a core-collapse origin. Spectroscopic observations and analysis reveal high ejecta velocities, dominated by helium-burning products, probably excluding this as a subluminous or a regular type Ia supernova. We conclude that it arises from a low-mass, old progenitor, likely to have been a helium-accreting white dwarf in a binary. The ejecta contain more calcium than observed in other types of supernovae and probably large amounts of radioactive 44Ti.
- Subjects
SUPERNOVAE; STELLAR populations; WHITE dwarf stars; MILKY Way; NUCLEAR weapons; SPECTRUM analysis; ATOMIC mass; SPEED; HELIUM
- Publication
Nature, 2010, Vol 465, Issue 7296, p322
- ISSN
0028-0836
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1038/nature09056