Light curves of the explosion of ONe WD+CO WD merger remnant and type Icn supernovae

TL;DR

This paper models light curves from ONe WD+CO WD merger explosions to explore their potential as progenitors of Type Icn supernovae, especially SN 2019jc, suggesting a new possible origin for these rare events.

Contribution

It introduces a simulation of light curves from WD merger remnants to assess their role as progenitors of SNe Icn, providing a new perspective on their origins.

Findings

Light curves from WD mergers can match SN 2019jc properties.

Double WD mergers may be a viable progenitor channel for some SNe Icn.

The model highlights the influence of ejecta mass, explosion energy, and CSM on light curves.

Abstract

Type Icn supernovae (SNe Icn) are a newly detected rare subtype of interacting stripped-envelope supernovae which show narrow P-Cygni lines of highly ionized carbon, oxygen, and neon in their early spectra due to the interactions of the SNe ejecta with dense hydrogen- and helium-deficient circumstellar material (CSM). It has been suggested that SNe Icn may have multiple progenitor channels, such as the explosion of carbon-rich Wolf-Rayet stars, or the explosion of stripped-envelope SNe which undergo binary interactions. Among the SNe Icn, SN 2019jc shows unique properties, and previous work inferred that it may stem from the ultra-stripped supernova, but other possibilities still exist. In this work, we aim to simulate the light curves from the explosions of oxygen-neon and carbon-oxygen double white dwarf (WD) merger remnants, and to further investigate whether the corresponding explosions can appear as some particular SNe Icn. We generate the light curves from the explosive remnants and analyse the influence of different parameters on the light curves, such as the ejecta mass, explosion energy, mass of Ni56 and CSM properties. Comparing our results with some SNe Icn, we found that the light curves from the explosions of double WD merger remnants can explain the observable properties of SN 2019jc, which inferred that this special SN Icn may have a different progenitor. Our results indicated that double WD merger may be an alternative model in producing at least one of the SNe Icn.