Comparative Analysis of SN 2012dn Optical Spectra: Days -14 to +114

TL;DR

This study analyzes the optical spectra of supernova SN 2012dn, revealing insights into its composition, progenitor mass, and spectral features, and compares it with other Type Ia supernovae to understand diversity.

Contribution

It applies the SYNAPPS spectral synthesis tool to estimate velocities and compositions, providing new constraints on the progenitor mass and spectral features of SN 2012dn.

Findings

Unburned carbon and intermediate mass elements are spatially coincident in the ejecta.

SN 2012dn's luminosity suggests a progenitor mass over 1.6 solar masses, challenging some merger models.

Diverse spectral features and unburned carbon are observed among different SN Ia subtypes.

Abstract

SN 2012dn is a super-Chandrasekhar mass candidate in a purportedly normal spiral (SAcd) galaxy, and poses a challenge for theories of type Ia supernova diversity. Here we utilize the fast and highly parameterized spectrum synthesis tool, SYNAPPS, to estimate relative expansion velocities of species inferred from optical spectra obtained with six facilities. As with previous studies of normal SN Ia, we find that both unburned carbon and intermediate mass elements are spatially coincident within the ejecta near and below 14,000 km/s. Although the upper limit on SN 2012dn's peak luminosity is comparable to some of the most luminous normal SN Ia, we find a progenitor mass exceeding ~1.6 Msun is not strongly favored by leading merger models since these models do not accurately predict spectroscopic observations of SN 2012dn and more normal events. In addition, a comparison of light curves and host-galaxy masses for a sample of literature and Palomar Transient Factory SN Ia reveals a diverse distribution of SN Ia subtypes where carbon-rich material remains unburned in some instances. Such events include SN 1991T, 1997br, and 1999aa where trace signatures of C III at optical wavelengths are presumably detected.