The Immediate, Exemplary, and Fleeting echelle spectroscopy of SN 2023ixf: Monitoring acceleration of slow progenitor circumstellar material, driven by shock interaction

TL;DR

This study uses high-resolution spectroscopy to monitor the rapid acceleration of circumstellar material around SN 2023ixf, revealing shock interaction effects and progenitor mass loss history in unprecedented detail.

Contribution

First detailed high-resolution, multi-epoch spectra of SN 2023ixf showing shock-driven acceleration of circumstellar material and progenitor mass loss.

Findings

Circumstellar material is accelerated to over 200 km/s before being overtaken by the supernova shock.

He I emission features evolve rapidly, disappearing within a day, indicating intense radiative acceleration.

Progenitor experienced enhanced mass loss over 4 years prior to explosion, creating dense asymmetric CSM.

Abstract

We present high resolution WIYN/NEID echelle spectroscopy (R $\approx70$,000) of the supernova (SN) 2023ixf in M101, obtained 1.51 to 18.51 days after explosion over nine epochs. Daily monitoring for the first four days after explosion shows narrow emission features ($\leq200$ km s$^{-1}$), exhibiting predominantly blueshifted velocities, that rapidly weaken, broaden, and vanish in a manner consistent with radiative acceleration and the SN shock eventually overrunning or enveloping the full extent of dense circumstellar medium (CSM). The most rapid evolution is in the He I emission, which is visible on day 1.51 but disappears by day 2.62. We measure the maximum pre-SN speed of He I to be 25 $^{+0}_{-5} \pm2$ km s$^{-1}$, where the error is attributable to the uncertainty in how much the He I had already been radiatively accelerated, and to measurement of the emission line profile. The radiative acceleration of material is likely driven by the shock-CSM interaction, and the CSM is accelerated to $\geq200$ km s$^{-1}$ before being completely swept up by the SN shock to $\sim 2000$ km s$^{-1}$. We compare the observed spectra with spherically-symmetric r16wb HERACLES/CMFGEN model spectra and find the line evolution to generally be consistent with radiative acceleration and optical depth effects. The progenitor of SN2023ixf underwent an enhanced mass loss phase $\gtrsim 4$ year prior to core-collapse, creating a dense, asymmetric CSM region extending out to approximately $r_{CSM} = 3.7 \times 10^{14}$ ($v_\textrm{shock}$/9500 km s$^{-1}$) cm.