Early emission from type Ia supernovae

TL;DR

This paper models the early UV/optical emission from Type Ia supernovae based on deflagration-to-detonation models, predicting a faint, short-lived flash influenced by shock dynamics and opacity changes.

Contribution

It introduces an analytic model incorporating shock effects and opacity evolution, improving predictions of early supernova emission over previous estimates.

Findings

Predicts a 1000-second UV/optical flash with luminosity 1-3×10^39 erg/s.

Shows the UV flash luminosity is lower than earlier estimates.

Finds the emission is suppressed after about an hour due to non-radiation pressure effects.

Abstract

A unique feature of deflagration-to-detonation (DDT) white dwarf explosion models of SNe of type Ia is the presence of a strong shock wave propagating through the outer envelope. We consider the early emission expected in such models, which is produced by the expanding shock-heated outer part of the ejecta and precedes the emission driven by radioactive decay. We expand on earlier analyses by considering the modification of the pre-detonation density profile by the weak-shocks generated during the deflagration phase, the time evolution of the opacity, and the deviation of the post-shock equation of state from that obtained for radiation pressure domination. A simple analytic model is presented and shown to provide an acceptable approximation to the results of 1D numerical DDT simulations. Our analysis predicts a thousand second long UV/optical flash with a luminosity of ~1 to 3*1e39 erg/s. Lower luminosity corresponds to faster (turbulent) deflagration velocity. The predicted luminosity of the UV flash is an order of magnitude lower than that of earlier estimates, and is expected to be strongly suppressed at times longer than an hour due to the deviation from pure radiation domination.