Radiative Transfer Modeling of Stripped-Envelope Supernovae. I: A Grid for Ejecta Parameter Inference

TL;DR

This paper introduces a comprehensive grid of supernova light curve models using advanced radiation transport simulations and autoencoders, enabling detailed inference of ejecta parameters from observed multiband light curves.

Contribution

It presents a novel, physically-informed grid of supernova models that allows for improved inference of ejecta properties from observed light curves.

Findings

Ejecta velocity distribution significantly influences light curves.

Ni-56 variation has limited impact on bolometric light curves.

Ejecta mass, Ni-56 mass, and velocity structure can be inferred from multiband light curves.

Abstract

We present 1,800 multiwavelength Type Ib/c supernovae light curve models obtained by running the radiation transport code Sedona and varying the mass distribution, velocity profile, and abundance ejecta profiles of helium star progenitors. To create a flexible but physically-informed grid, we use autoencoders to construct a representation of ejecta profiles derived from stellar evolution models. We present simulated nearest-neighbor multiband light curves matches to SN 1994I, SN 2007gr, and iPTF13bvn to demonstrate that realistic light curves can be generated in our grid. We show that the ejecta velocity distribution, in particular, strongly influences the light curve, while variation in Ni-56 alone has a limited impact on the bolometric light curve, even in extreme and unphysical mixing schemes; however, mixing can modestly impact color evolution. Finally, we show that the Ni-56 mass, ejecta mass, and both the magnitude and structure of ejecta velocity distribution can be inferred from the multiband light curves, enabling improved inference over widely used semianalytical models.