An Excess of Mid-Infrared Emission from the Type Iax SN 2014dt
Abstract
Supernovae Type Iax (SNe Iax) are less energetic and less luminous than typical thermonuclear explosions. A suggested explanation for the observed characteristics of this subclass is a binary progenitor system consisting of a CO white dwarf primary accreting from a helium star companion. A single-degenerate explosion channel might be expected to result in a dense circumstellar medium (CSM), although no evidence for such a CSM has yet been observed for this subclass. Here we present recent Spitzer observations of the SN Iax 2014dt obtained by the SPIRITS program nearly one year post-explosion that reveal a strong mid-IR excess over the expected fluxes of more normal SNe Ia. This excess is consistent with 10^(−5) M_⊙ of newly formed dust, which would be the first time that newly formed dust has been observed to form in a Type Ia. The excess, however, is also consistent with a dusty CSM that was likely formed in pre-explosion mass-loss, thereby suggesting a single degenerate progenitor system. Compared to other SNe Ia that show significant shock interaction (SNe Ia-CSM) and interacting core-collapse events (SNe IIn), this dust shell in SN 2014dt is less massive. We consider the implications that such a pre-existing dust shell has for the progenitor system, including a binary system with a mass donor that is a red giant, a red supergiant, or an asymptotic giant branch star.
Additional Information
© 2016. The American Astronomical Society. Received 2015 October 27; accepted 2015 December 17; published 2015 December 30. This work is based on data obtained via Program #11063 with the Spitzer Space Telescope, which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with NASA. Support for this work was provided by NASA through an award issued by JPL/Caltech. The authors thank Ryan Foley for useful discussions. We thank Peter Milne, Jacob Jencson, and Tom Prince for help with observations.Attached Files
Published - Fox_2016pL13.pdf
Submitted - 1510.08070v1.pdf
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 62153
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20151117-084214250
- 11063
- NASA/JPL/Caltech
- Created
-
2015-11-17Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-10Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Caltech groups
- Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC)