Observations of Type Ia Supernova 2014J for Nearly 900 Days and Constraints on Its Progenitor System

Abstract

We present extensive ground-based and Hubble Space T elescope (HST ) photometry of the highly reddened, very nearby type Ia supernova (SN Ia) 2014J in M82, covering the phases from 9 days before to about 900 days after the B-band maximum. SN 2014J is similar to other normal SNe Ia near the maximum light, but it shows flux excess in the B band in the early nebular phase. This excess flux emission can be due to light scattering by some structures of circumstellar materials located at a few 10 17 cm, consistent with a single degenerate progenitor system or a double degenerate progenitor system with mass outflows in the final evolution or magnetically driven winds around the binary system. At t∼+300 to ∼+500 days past the B-band maximum, the light 2 Li et al.curve of SN 2014J shows a faster decline relative to the 56 Ni decay. Such a feature can be attributed to the significant weakening of the emission features around [Fe III] λ4700 and [Fe II] λ5200 rather than the positron escape as previously suggested. Analysis of the HST images taken at t>600 days confirms that the luminosity of SN 2014J maintains a flat evolution at the very late phase. Fitting the late-time pseudo-bolometric light curve with radioactive decay of 56 Ni, 57 Ni and 55 Fe isotopes, we obtain the mass ratio 57 Ni/ 56 Ni as 0.035 ± 0.011, which is consistent with the corresponding value predicted from the 2D and 3D delayed-detonation models. Combined with early-time analysis, we propose that delayed-detonation through single degenerate scenario is most likely favored for SN 2014J.

The Effects of Circumstellar Dust Scattering on the Light Curves and Polarizations of Type Ia Supernovae

“…The parameters that define reference sets are shown in Table 2. The CSM parameters of these characteristic sets are consistent with the fitting results in Wang et al (2019) and Li et al (2019), where the likely distances to the CSM around a few high-velocity SNe Ia were found to be approximately (1 ∼ 2) × 10 17 cm. The optical depths were found to be around 0.7 for the axisymmetric disk model, and 0.15 for the spherical shell and axisymmetric shell model.…”

“…matter from a non-degenerate star to reach the critical mass for SN explosion (Whelan & Iben 1973;Nomoto 1982), whereas in the double degenerate channel the explosion is achieved by the merging of the WD with a degenerate companion (Iben & Tutukov 1984;Webbink 1984). In either case, circumstellar material (CSM) may be ejected before the explosion and studies of which may provide unique clues to the nature of the progenitors of SNe Ia (Förster et al 2012;Shen et al 2013;Yang et al 2017;Li et al 2019;Ding et al 2021).…”

Constraints on the density distribution of type Ia supernovae ejecta inferred from late-time light-curve flattening

“…In the last few years, a few Ia SNe were observed to late times with a more complete spectral coverage, and were found to exhibit a late-time flattening of the light curve (Graur, et al 2016;Dimitriadis, et al 2017;Kerzendorf, et al 2017;Shappee, et al 2017;Yang, et al 2018;Graur, et al 2018a,b;Graur 2019;Li, et al 2019). Assuming that the observed flattening is due to heating by 57 Co and 55 Fe decays, and ignoring delayed deposition, abundances of 57 Co and 55 Fe were derived, typically assuming fully trapped positrons.…”

A year-long plateau in the late-time near-infrared light curves of type Ia supernovae

“…To date, this so-called "IR catastrophe" has not been observed in the optical. In fact, several recent studies have shown that the decline of the optical light curves begins to slow down at ∼ 800 days (Cappellaro et al 1997;Leloudas et al 2009;Fransson & Jerkstrand 2015;Graur et al 2016Graur et al , 2018bGraur 2019;Shappee et al 2017;Yang et al 2018;Dimitriadis et al 2017;Kerzendorf et al 2017;Li et al 2019). 2012ht, 2013dy, 2017erp, 2018gv, and 2019np in their host galaxies.…”