Pre-nebular light curves of type I supernovae

TL;DR

This paper compares analytic supernova light curve models with high-quality observational data, revealing insights into explosion mixing, opacity effects, and multiple heating processes across different supernova types.

Contribution

It provides a detailed comparison of analytic predictions with recent supernova data, highlighting the role of mixing, opacity, and multiple heating sources in shaping light curves.

Findings

KSN2011b light curve smoothness suggests large-scale mixing.

Opacity influences early luminosity rise.

Multiple heating processes affect SNe Ia and Ibc differences.

Abstract

We compare analytic predictions of supernova light curves with recent high quality data from SN2011fe (Ia), from KSN2011b (Ia), and the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) and the La Silla-QUEST variability survey (LSQ) (Ia). Because of the steady, fast cadence of observations, KSN2011b provides unique new information on SNe Ia: the smoothness of the light curve, which is consistent with significant large-scale mixing during the explosion, possibly due to 3D effects (e.g., Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities), and provides support for a slowly-varying leakage (mean opacity). For a more complex light curve (SN2008D, SNIb), we separate the luminosity due to multiple causes and indicate the possibility of a radioactive plume. The early rise in luminosity is shown to be affected by the opacity (leakage rate) for thermal and non-thermal radiation. A general derivation of Arnett's rule again shows that it depends upon {\em all} processes heating the plasma, not just radioactive ones, so that SNe Ia will differ from SNe Ibc if the latter have multiple heating processes.