Theoretical light curves of type Ia supernovae

TL;DR

This paper presents the first theoretical light curves of type Ia supernovae generated using an extended version of the PHOENIX code, incorporating time-dependent energy conservation during the supernova's free expansion phase.

Contribution

The authors extended the PHOENIX code to produce time-dependent light curves for type Ia supernovae, including LTE and NLTE models, verified against observed supernova data.

Findings

Successful calculation of theoretical SN Ia light curves.

Verification of code extension through comparison with observed supernovae.

First use of PHOENIX for time-dependent SN Ia light curve modeling.

Abstract

Aims. We present the first theoretical SN Ia light curves calculated with the time-dependent version of the general purpose model atmosphere code PHOENIX. Our goal is to produce light curves and spectra of hydro models of all types of supernovae. Methods. We extend our model atmosphere code PHOENIX to calculate type Ia supernovae light curves. A simple solver was imple- mented which keeps track of energy conservation in the atmosphere during the free expansion phase. Results. The correct operation of the new additions to PHOENIX were verified in test calculations. Furthermore, we calculated theo- retical light curves and compared them to the observed SN Ia light curves of SN 1999ee and SN 2002bo. We obtained LTE as well as NLTE model light curves. Conclusions. We have verified the correct operation of our extension into the time domain. We have calculated the first SN Ia model light curves using PHOENIX in both LTE and NLTE. For future work the infrared model light curves need to be further investigated.