Optical Observations of the Young Type Ic Supernova SN 2014L in M99

TL;DR

This paper reports detailed optical observations of the nearby Type Ic supernova SN 2014L, including early detection, spectral analysis, and modeling, providing insights into its explosion parameters and potential as a template for similar supernovae.

Contribution

It presents comprehensive optical data and modeling of SN 2014L, offering a detailed case study that enhances understanding of Type Ic supernovae and their explosion characteristics.

Findings

SN 2014L was detected within hours after shock breakout.

Derived explosion parameters: 0.075 solar masses of Ni-56, 1.00 solar masses of ejecta, and 1.45 foe of energy.

SN 2014L closely resembles SN 2007gr in photometric evolution.

Abstract

We present optical spectroscopic and photometric observations of the nearby type Ic supernova (SN Ic) SN 2014L. This SN was discovered by the Tsinghua-NAOC Transient Survey (TNTS) in the nearby type-Sc spiral galaxy M99 (NGC 4254). Fitting to the early-time light curve indicates that SN 2014L was detected at only a few hours after the shock breakout, and it reached a peak brightness of $M_{\rm V} = -17.73 \pm 0.28$ mag ($L= [2.06\pm 0.50] \times 10^{42}$ erg s$^{-1}$) approximately 13 days later. SN 2014L shows a close resemblance to SN 2007gr in the photometric evolution, while it shows stronger absorption features of intermediate-mass elements (especially \CaII) in the early-time spectra. Based on simple modeling of the observed light curves, we derived the mass of synthesized $^{56}$Ni as $M_{\rm Ni} = 0.075 \pm 0.025 M_{\odot}$, and the mass and total energy of the ejecta as $M_{\rm ej} = 1.00 \pm 0.20 M_\odot$ and $E_{\rm ej}=1.45\pm0.25$ foe, respectively. Given these typical explosion parameters, the early detection, and the extensive observations, we suggest that SN 2014L could be a template sample for the investigation of SNe Ic.