Spectra of Hydrogen-poor Superluminous Supernovae from the Palomar Transient Factory

Quimby, RM, De Cia, A, Gal-Yam, A, Leloudas, G, Lunnan, R, Perley, DA, Vreeswijk, P, Yan, L, Bloom, J, Cenko, SB, Cooke, J, Ellis, R, Fillipenko, A, Kasliwal, M, Kleiser, I, Kulkarni, S, Matheson, T, Nugent, P, Pan, Y-C, Silverman, J et al (2018) Spectra of Hydrogen-poor Superluminous Supernovae from the Palomar Transient Factory. The Astrophysical Journal, 855 (1). ISSN 1538-4357

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Abstract

Most Type I superluminous supernovae (SLSNe-I) reported to date have been identified by their high peak luminosities and spectra lacking obvious signs of hydrogen. We demonstrate that these events can be distinguished from normal-luminosity SNe (including Type Ic events) solely from their spectra over a wide range of light-curve phases. We use this distinction to select 19 SLSNe-I and four possible SLSNe-I from the Palomar Transient Factory archive (including seven previously published objects). We present 127 new spectra of these objects and combine these with 39 previously published spectra, and we use these to discuss the average spectral properties of SLSNe-I at different spectral phases. We find that Mn II most probably contributes to the ultraviolet spectral features after maximum light, and we give a detailed study of the O II features that often characterize the early-time optical spectra of SLSNe-I. We discuss the velocity distribution of O II, finding that for some SLSNe-I this can be confined to a narrow range compared to relatively large systematic velocity shifts. Mg II and Fe II favor higher velocities than O II and C II, and we briefly discuss how this may constrain power-source models. We tentatively group objects by how well they match either SN 2011ke or PTF12dam and discuss the possibility that physically distinct events may have been previously grouped together under the SLSN-I label.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	0201 Astronomical And Space Sciences, 0305 Organic Chemistry, 0306 Physical Chemistry (Incl. Structural)
Subjects:	Q Science > QB Astronomy Q Science > QC Physics Q Science > QD Chemistry
Divisions:	Astrophysics Research Institute
Publisher:	American Astronomical Society
Date of acceptance:	25 January 2018
Date of first compliant Open Access:	14 March 2018
Date Deposited:	14 Mar 2018 09:41
Last Modified:	30 Oct 2024 14:30
DOI or ID number:	10.3847/1538-4357/aaac2f
URI:	https://ljmu-9.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/8279

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