1999/06/10 by Н. Н. Чугай, Nikolai N. Chugai, Chugai, Nikolai N. +3 · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astro and Planetary Science #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Nuclear Physics and Applications #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/9906190
11 pages, 11 figures, submitted to A&A
arxiv created 1999/06/10 · openalex publication_date 1999/06/10 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We analyzed the spectra and light curve of the peculiar type II-P supernova 1997D to recover ejecta parameters. The optimal hydrodynamical model of SN 1997D, which meets observational constraints at the photospheric epoch, suggests a low explosion energy of about 1050 erg, ejecta mass around 6 M\odot, and presupernova radius near 85 R\odot. We confirm the previous result by Turatto et al. (\citetmy98) that the ejecta contain a very low amount of radioactive 56Ni (≈ 0.002 M\odot). Modelling the nebular spectrum supports the hydrodynamical model and permits us to estimate the mass of freshly synthesized oxygen (0.02--0.07 M\odot). Combined with the basic results of stellar evolution theory the obtained parameters of SN 1997D imply that the progenitor was a star from the 8--12 M\odot mass range at the main sequence. The fact that at least some progenitors from this mass range give rise to core-collapse supernovae with a low kinetic energy (≈ 1050 erg) and low amount of radioactive 56Ni (≈ 0.002 M\odot) has no precedent and imposes important constraints on the explosion mechanism. We speculate that the galactic supernovae 1054 and 1181 could be attributed to SN 1997D-like events.