Vreeswijk, Paul M., Savaglio, Sandra, Gal-Yam, Avishay, De Cia, Annalisa, Quimby, Robert M., Sullivan, Mark, Cenko, S. Bradley, Perley, Daniel A., Filippenko, Alexei V., Clubb, Kelsey I., Taddia, Francesco, Sollerman, Jesper, Leloudas, Giorgos, Arcavi, Iair, Rubin, Adam, Kasliwal, Mansi M., Cao, Yi, Yaron, Ofer, Tal, David, Ofek, Eran O., Capone, John, Kutyrev, Alexander S., Toy, Vicki, Nugent, Peter E., Laher, Russ, Surace, Jason and Kulkarni, Shrinivas R. (2014) The hydrogen-poor superluminous supernova iPTF 13ajg and its host galaxy in absorption and emission. The Astrophysical Journal, 797 (24), 1-15. (doi:10.1088/0004-637X/797/1/24).
Abstract
We present imaging and spectroscopy of a hydrogen-poor superluminous supernova (SLSN) discovered by the intermediate Palomar Transient Factory, iPTF 13ajg. At a redshift of z = 0.7403, derived from narrow absorption lines, iPTF 13ajg peaked at an absolute magnitude of Mu,AB = –22.5, one of the most luminous supernovae to date. The observed bolometric peak luminosity of iPTF 13ajg is 3.2 × 1044 erg s–1, while the estimated total radiated energy is 1.3 × 1051 erg. We detect narrow absorption lines of Mg I, Mg II, and Fe II, associated with the cold interstellar medium in the host galaxy, at two different epochs with X-shooter at the Very Large Telescope. From Voigt profile fitting, we derive the column densities log N(Mg I) =11.94 ± 0.06, log N(Mg II) =14.7 ± 0.3, and log N(Fe II) =14.25 ± 0.10. These column densities, as well as the Mg I and Mg II equivalent widths of a sample of hydrogen-poor SLSNe taken from the literature, are at the low end of those derived for gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) whose progenitors are also thought to be massive stars. This suggests that the environments of hydrogen-poor SLSNe and GRBs are different. From the nondetection of Fe II fine-structure absorption lines, we derive a lower limit on the distance between the supernova and the narrow-line absorbing gas of 50 pc. The neutral gas responsible for the absorption in iPTF 13ajg exhibits a single narrow component with a low velocity width, ΔV = 76 km s–1, indicating a low-mass host galaxy. No host galaxy emission lines are detected, leading to an upper limit on the unobscured star formation rate (SFR) of SFR[O II] < 0.07 M☉yr-1. Late-time imaging shows the iPTF 13ajg host galaxy to be faint, with gAB ~ 27.0 and RAB ≥ 26.0 mag, corresponding to MB, Vega >~ –17.7 mag.
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