Photometric and spectroscopic observations, and abundance tomography modelling of the type Ia supernova SN 2014J located in M82

TL;DR

This study presents detailed photometric and spectroscopic observations of the nearby, normal Type Ia supernova SN 2014J, modeling its spectra with abundance tomography to understand its composition, velocity, and extinction properties.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed abundance tomography modeling of SN 2014J, revealing its composition, velocity structure, and extinction characteristics, using a Monte Carlo radiative transfer approach.

Findings

SN 2014J is a spectroscopically normal SN Ia with high velocity features.

The supernova experienced significant host galaxy extinction (E(B-V)=1.2).

The abundance profile shows high silicon and sulphur at high velocities and nickel-dominated low-velocity ejecta.

Abstract

Spectroscopic and photometric observations of the nearby Type Ia Supernova (SN Ia) SN 2014J are presented. Spectroscopic observations were taken -8 to +10 d relative to B-band maximum, using FRODOSpec, a multi-purpose integral-field unit spectrograph. The observations range from 3900 AA to 9000 AA. SN 2014J is located in M82 which makes it the closest SN Ia studied in at least the last 28 years. It is a spectrosopically normal SN Ia with high velocity features. We model the spectra of SN 2014J with a Monte Carlo (MC) radiative transfer code, using the abundance tomography technique. SN 2014J is highly reddened, with a host galaxy extinction of E(B-V)=1.2 (R_V=1.38). It has a $\Delta$m_15(B) of 1.08$\pm$0.03 when corrected for extinction. As SN 2014J is a normal SN Ia, the density structure of the classical W7 model was selected. The model and photometric luminosities are both consistent with B-band maximum occurring on JD 2456690.4$\pm$0.12. The abundance of the SN 2014J behaves like other normal SN Ia, with significant amounts of silicon (12% by mass) and sulphur (9% by mass) at high velocities (12300 km s$^{-1}$) and the low-velocity ejecta (v<6500 km s$^{-1}$) consists almost entirely of $^{56}$Ni.