Explaining the supernova impostor sn 2009ip as mergerburst

TL;DR

This paper suggests that the 2012 outburst of supernova impostor SN 2009ip was caused by a merger of two massive stars, explaining its light curve, energy, and ejected gas velocities.

Contribution

It introduces the mergerburst hypothesis for SN 2009ip, linking its outbursts to binary star mergers similar to Eta Carinae and V838 Mon.

Findings

The 2012 outburst matches a merger event light curve.

A merger of a 60-100 solar mass star with a 0.2-0.5 solar mass companion explains the energy and velocities.

The ejected nebula likely has a bipolar or complex morphology.

Abstract

We propose that the energetic major outburst of the supernova (SN) impostor SN 2009ip in September 2012 (outburst 2012b) was a mergerburst event, where two massive stars merged. The previous outbursts of 2009 and 2011 might have occurred near periastron passages of the binary system prior to the merger, in a similar manner to the luminosity peaks in the nineteenth century Great Eruption of the massive binary system Eta Carinae. The major 2012b outburst and the 2012a pre-outburst, resemble the light curve of the mergerburst event V838 Mon. A merger of an evolved star with a mass of M1~60-100Mo and a secondary main sequence star of M2~0.2-0.5M1 can account for the energy of SN 2009ip and for the high velocities of the ejected gas. The ejected nebula is expected to have a non-spherical structure, e.g. bipolar or even a more complicated morphology.