The Cold and Dusty Circumstellar Matter around Fast-expanding Type Ia Supernovae

TL;DR

This study reveals distinct circumstellar environments around two subclasses of Type Ia supernovae, linking their progenitor systems to differences in dust, gas, and light echo phenomena, thereby advancing understanding of their origins.

Contribution

It uncovers a dichotomy in circumstellar matter between high and normal velocity SNe Ia, suggesting different progenitor systems for each subclass.

Findings

HV SNe Ia show blue light excess due to circumstellar dust light echoes.

Variable Na I absorption lines are common in HV SNe Ia, indicating evolving circumstellar gas.

The circumstellar dust and gas are located at about 1-3x10^{17} cm from the supernovae.

Abstract

Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) play key roles in revealing the accelerating expansion of the universe, but our knowledge about their progenitors is still very limited. Here we report the discovery of a rigid dichotomy in circumstellar (CS) environments around two subclasses of type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) as defined by their distinct photospheric velocities. For the SNe Ia with high photospheric velocities (HV), we found a significant excess flux in blue light during 60-100 days past maximum, while this phenomenon is absent for SNe with normal photospheric velocity (Normal). This blue excess can be attributed to light echoes by circumstellar dust located at a distance of about 1-3x10^{17} cm from the HV subclass. Moreover, we also found that the HV SNe Ia show systematically evolving Na I absorption line by performing a systematic search of variable Na I absorption lines in spectra of all SNe Ia, whereas this evolution is rarely seen in Normal ones. The evolving Na I absorption can be modeled in terms of photoionization model, with the location of the gas clouds at a distance of about 2x10^{17} cm, in striking agreement with the location of CS dust inferred from B-band light curve excess. These observations show clearly that the progenitors of HV and Normal subclasses are systematically different, suggesting that they are likely from single and double degenerate progenitor systems, respectively.