Supernova 2014C: ongoing interaction with extended circumstellar material with silicate dust

TL;DR

SN 2014C uniquely exhibits prolonged interaction with a chemically inhomogeneous, silicate-rich circumstellar dust shell, revealing complex mass loss history and binary system origins through multi-year infrared observations.

Contribution

This study provides the first evidence of silicate dust in the CSM of an interacting supernova and models the dust composition and mass loss history in unprecedented detail.

Findings

Ongoing CSM interaction confirmed up to 1920 days post-explosion.

Spectral energy distributions indicate a mixture of carbonaceous and silicate dust.

Mass loss rate estimated at approximately 10^{-3} solar masses per year.

Abstract

Supernova (SN) 2014C is a unique explosion where a seemingly typical hydrogen-poor stripped envelope SN started to interact with a dense, hydrogen-rich circumstellar medium (CSM) a few months after the explosion. The delayed interaction suggests a detached CSM shell, unlike in a typical SN IIn where the CSM is much closer and the interaction commences earlier post-explosion; indicating a different mass loss history. We present near- to mid-infrared observations of SN 2014C from 1-5 years after the explosion, including uncommon 9.7 $\mu$m imaging with COMICS on the Subaru telescope. Spectroscopy shows that the interaction is still ongoing, with the intermediate-width He I 1.083 $\mu$m emission present out to our latest epoch 1639 days post-explosion. The last Spitzer/IRAC photometry at 1920 days post-explosion further confirms ongoing CSM interaction. The 1-10 $\mu$m spectral energy distributions (SEDs) can be explained by a dust model with a mixture of 69% carbonaceous and 31% silicate dust, pointing to a chemically inhomogeneous CSM. The inference of silicate dust is the first among interacting SNe. An SED model with purely carbonaceous CSM dust is possible, but would require more than 0.22 $M_{\odot}$ of dust, which is an order of magnitude larger than what observed in any other SNe, measured in the same way, at this epoch. The light curve beyond 500 days is well fit by an interaction model with a wind-driven CSM and a mass loss rate of $\sim 10^{-3} \, M_{\odot}\,\rm yr^{-1}$, which presents an additional CSM density component exterior to the constant density shell reported previously in the literature. SN 2014C could originate in a binary system, similar to RY Scuti, which would explain the observed chemical and density profile inhomogeneity in the CSM.