Transient and Time Domain Astronomy: Robotic telescopes, surveys and the evolution of transient phenomena
The late time light curve evolution of SN2011fe
Date Submitted
2016-04-26 06:24:06
Georgios Dimitriadis
University of Southampton
I will present the late-time light curve evolution of the nearby type Ia supernova (SN Ia) SN2011fe over 200-1300 days after maximum, monitored by the Palomar Transient Factory, and combined with external photometric and spectroscopic data. The analysis confirms a sudden change in the ionisation state of the supernova at ~500 days, consistent with an infrared catastrophe, revealing a colour evolution that causes a shift of the emitted flux from the optical wavelengths to near infrared ones. Moreover, the extremely late light curve evolution reveals the presence of Nickel-57, with a mass consistent with explosions models of relatively low Nickel-56 synthesized masses, possibly pointing to double degenerate progenitor scenarios. I will demonstrate the importance of late time, multi-wavelength studies of SNe Ia for probing the explosion physics of the phenomenon, and discuss the implication of them for the long-standing progenitor problem.