Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

A massive star origin for an unusual helium-rich supernova in an elliptical galaxy

Nature volume 465, pages 326–328 (2010)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

The unusual helium-rich (type Ib) supernova SN 2005E is distinguished from all supernovae hitherto observed by its faint and rapidly fading light curve, prominent calcium lines in late-phase spectra and lack of any mark of recent star formation near the supernova location. These properties are claimed1 to be explained by a helium detonation in a thin surface layer of an accreting white dwarf. Here we report that the observed properties of SN 2005cz, which appeared in an elliptical galaxy, resemble those of SN 2005E. We argue that these properties are best explained by a core-collapse supernova at the low-mass end (8–12 solar masses) of the range of massive stars that explode2. Such a low-mass progenitor lost its hydrogen-rich envelope through binary interaction, had very thin oxygen-rich and silicon-rich layers above the collapsing core, and accordingly ejected a very small amount of radioactive 56Ni and oxygen. Although the host galaxy NGC 4589 is an elliptical, some studies have revealed evidence of recent star-formation activity3, consistent with the core-collapse model.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Early-time spectra of stripped-envelope core-collapse supernovae.
Figure 2: Late-time spectra of stripped-envelope core-collapse supernovae and faint supernovae.
Figure 3: Absolute R -band light curves of relevant supernovae.
Figure 4: Bolometric light curve.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Perets, H. B. et al. A faint type of supernova from a white dwarf with a helium-rich companion. Nature 10.1038/nature09056 (this issue)

  2. Smartt, S. J. Progenitors of core-collapse supernovae. Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 47, 63–106 (2009)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Zhang, Y., Gu, Q.-S. & Ho, L. C. Stellar and dust properties of local elliptical galaxies: clues to the onset of nuclear activity. Astron. Astrophys. 487, 177–183 (2008)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Leonard, D. C. Supernova 2005cz in NGC 4589. IAU Circ. 8579, (2005)

  5. Filippenko, A. V. et al. Supernovae 2001co, 2003H, 2003dg, and 2003dr. IAU Circ. 8159, (2003)

  6. Foley, R. J. et al. SN 2008ha: an extremely low luminosity and exceptionally low energy supernova. Astron. J. 138, 376–391 (2009)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Nomoto, K., Tominaga, N., Umeda, H., Kobayashi, C. & Maeda, K. Nucleosynthesis yields of core-collapse supernovae and hypernovae, and galactic chemical evolution. Nucl. Phys. A 777, 424–458 (2006)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. Fransson, C. & Chevalier, R. A. Late emission from supernovae: a window on stellar nucleosynthesis. Astrophys. J. 343, 323–342 (1989)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Maeda, K. et al. SN 2006aj associated with XRF 060218 at late phases: nucleosynthesis signature of a neutron-driven explosion. Astrophys. J. 658, L5–L8 (2007)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Shigeyama, T. et al. Theoretical light curves of type IIb supernova 1993J. Astrophys. J. 420, 341–347 (1994)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Nomoto, K. et al. A carbon-oxygen star as progenitor of the type-Ic supernova 1994I. Nature 371, 227–229 (1994)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Mazzali, P. A., Nomoto, K., Patat, F. & Maeda, K. The nebular spectra of the hypernova SN 1998bw and evidence for asymmetry. Astrophys. J. 559, 1047–1053 (2001)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Mazzali, P. A. et al. The aspherical properties of the energetic type Ic SN 2002ap as inferred from its nebular spectra. Astrophys. J. 670, 592–599 (2007)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Tanaka, M. et al. Nebular phase observations of the type Ib supernova 2008D/X-ray transient 080109: side-viewed bipolar explosion. Astrophys. J. 700, 1680–1685 (2009)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Nomoto, K. & Hashimoto, M. Presupernova evolution of massive stars. Phys. Rep. 163, 13–36 (1988)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Nomoto, K. Evolution of 8–10 solar mass stars toward electron capture supernovae. I — Formation of electron-degenerate O + Ne + Mg cores. Astrophys. J. 277, 791–805 (1984)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Hakobyan, A. A. et al. Early-type galaxies with core collapse supernovae. Astron. Astrophys. 488, 523–531 (2008)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  18. Branch, D. et al. Direct analysis of spectra of type Ib supernovae. Astrophys. J. 566, 1005–1017 (2002)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Barbon, R. et al. SN 1993J in M81: one year of observations at Asiago. Astron. Astrophys. 110 (Suppl.). 513–519 (1995)

    ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Filippenko, A. V. et al. The type Ic supernova 1994I in M51: detection of helium and spectral evolution. Astrophys. J. 450, L11–L15 (1995)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Sauer, D. N. et al. The properties of the ‘standard’ type Ic supernova 1994I from spectral models. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 369, 1939–1948 (2006)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Maeda, K. et al. Asphericity in supernova explosions from late-time spectroscopy. Science 319, 1220–1223 (2008)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Phillips, M. M. et al. The peculiar SN 2005hk: do some type Ia supernovae explode as deflagrations? Publ. Astron. Soc. Pacif. 119, 360–387 (2007)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  24. Valenti, S. et al. A low energy core-collapse supernova without a hydrogen envelope. Nature 459, 674–677 (2009)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Richmond, M. W. et al. UBV RI photometry of the type Ic SN 1994I in M51. Astrophys. J. 111, 327–339 (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Stritzinger, M. et al. The He-rich core-collapse supernova 2007Y: observation from X-ray to radio wavelengths. Astrophys. J. 696, 713–728 (2009)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Botticella, M. T. et al. SN 2008S: an electron capture SN from a super-AGB progenitor? Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. (in the press); preprint at 〈http://arXiv.org/abs/0903.1286〉 (2009)

  28. Iwamoto, K. et al. Theoretical light curves for the type Ic supernova SN 1994I. Astrophys. J. 437, L115–L118 (1994)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  29. Patat, F. et al. The metamorphosis of SN 1998bw. Astrophys. J. 555, 900–917 (2001)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Yoshii, Y. et al. The optical/near-infrared light curves of SN 2002ap for the first 140 days after discovery. Astrophys. J. 592, 467–474 (2003)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank D. Leonard for permission to publish his early-time spectrum of SN 2005cz, and S. Valenti for permission to use his spectra of SN 2008ha. We acknowledge advice and help from P. A. Mazzali. This work is based on observations collected at the 2.2-m telescope at the Calar Alto Observatory (Sierra de Los Filabres, Spain), at the Keck Telescope, and at the Subaru Telescope (operated by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan). We are grateful to the staff members at the observatories for their assistance, especially to T. Sasaki, K. Aoki, G. Kosugi, T. Takata and M. Iye. This research is supported by the World Premier International Research Center Initiative (WPI Initiative), MEXT, Japan, and by the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) and MEXT. M.T. is supported through the JSPS Research Fellowship for Young Scientists. J.D. is supported by the NSFC and by the 973 Program of China.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hiroshima Astrophysical Science Center, Hiroshima University, 1-3-1 Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima 739-8526, Japan ,

    K. S. Kawabata

  2. Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (IPMU), University of Tokyo, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8583, Japan ,

    K. Maeda, K. Nomoto & M. Tanaka

  3. Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik, Karl-Schwarzschild-Straße 1, 85741 Garching, Germany ,

    S. Taubenberger

  4. Department of Astronomy, School of Science, University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan,

    M. Tanaka

  5. National Astronomical Observatories, CAS, 20A Datun Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100012, China ,

    J. Deng

  6. INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, Via Tiepolo 11, I-3413 Trieste, Italy ,

    E. Pian

  7. Subaru Telescope, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Hilo, Hawaii 96720, USA ,

    T. Hattori

  8. Itagaki Astronomical Observatory, Teppo-cho, Yamagata 990-2492, Japan ,

    K. Itagaki

Authors
  1. K. S. Kawabata
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. K. Maeda
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. K. Nomoto
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. S. Taubenberger
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. M. Tanaka
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. J. Deng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. E. Pian
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. T. Hattori
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. K. Itagaki
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

K.S.K., K.M., K.N., J.D. and E.P. organized the observations and discussions; K.M., K.N and K.S.K. wrote the manuscript; K.S.K., S.T. and K.I. were responsible for data acquisition and reduction; J.D. and E.P. were the Principal Investigators of the relevant Subaru programmes, S05B-132 and S05B-054, respectively; M.T. and S.T. contributed to discussions; and T.H. provided expertise on data acquisition at the Subaru Telescope.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to K. S. Kawabata.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

This file contains Supplementary Information 1-3, Supplementary Figures 1- 3 with legends and References. (PDF 579 kb)

PowerPoint slides

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Kawabata, K., Maeda, K., Nomoto, K. et al. A massive star origin for an unusual helium-rich supernova in an elliptical galaxy. Nature 465, 326–328 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature09055

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature09055

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing