Common Envelope Evolution Leading to Supernovae with Dense Interaction

TL;DR

This paper proposes that common envelope evolution involving a compact object in a massive star's envelope can explain the dense, asymmetric circumstellar material observed in certain supernovae, linking mass loss to binary interactions.

Contribution

It introduces a model where common envelope evolution triggers supernovae with dense, asymmetric circumstellar media, explaining observed velocities and energies.

Findings

Mass loss velocities match observed 100's km/s in Type IIn supernovae.

The model accounts for asymmetric circumstellar media.

Some supernovae energies exceed 10^{51} ergs, possibly due to rapid accretion.

Abstract

A variety of supernova events, including Type IIn supernovae and ultraluminous supernovae, appear to have lost up to solar masses of their envelopes in 10's to 100's of years leading up to the explosion. In order to explain the close timing of the mass loss and supernova events, we explore the possibility that the mass loss is driven by common envelope evolution of a compact object (neutron star or black hole) in the envelope of a massive star and the supernova is triggered by the inspiral of the compact object to the central core of the companion star. The expected rate of such events is smaller than the observed rate of Type IIn supernovae but the rates may agree within the uncertainties. The mass loss velocity is related to the escape velocity from the common envelope system and is comparable to the observed velocity of 100's of km s$^{-1}$ in Type IIn events. The mass loss is expected to be denser near the equatorial plane of the binary system and there is good evidence that the circumstellar media in Type IIn supernovae are asymmetric. Some of these supernova types show evidence for energies in excess of the canonical $10^{51}$ ergs, which might be the result of explosions from rapid accretion onto a compact object through a disk.