Core-Collapse Supernovae: From Neutrino-Driven 1D Explosions to Light Curves and Spectra

TL;DR

This paper models core-collapse supernovae explosions in spherical symmetry, analyzing their light curves and spectra to understand how progenitor properties influence observable features, and provides a comprehensive database for further research.

Contribution

It introduces a self-consistent pipeline from progenitor models to supernova light curves and spectra, enabling detailed analysis of supernova observables and their dependence on progenitor characteristics.

Findings

Light curve morphology relates to progenitor radius and hydrogen envelope mass.

$^{56}$Ni mass significantly influences light curve properties.

Spectra exhibit iron-line blanketing and Doppler-shifted absorption lines.

Abstract

We present bolometric and broadband light curves and spectra for a suite of core-collapse supernova models exploded self-consistently in spherical symmetry within the PUSH framework. We analyze broad trends in these light curves and categorize them based on morphology. We find these morphological categories relate simply to the progenitor radius and the mass of the hydrogen envelope. We present a proof-of-concept sensitive-variable analysis, indicating that an important determining factor in the properties of a light curve within a given category is $^{56}$Ni mass. We follow spectra from the photospheric to the nebular phase. These spectra show characteristic iron-line blanketing at short wavelengths and Doppler-shifted Fe II and Ti II absorption lines. To enable this analysis, we develop a first-of-its-kind pipeline from a massive progenitor model, through a self-consistent explosion in spherical symmetry, to electromagnetic counterparts. This opens the door to more detailed analyses of the collective properties of these observables. We provide a machine readable database of our light curves and spectra online at go.ncsu.edu/astrodata.