2019/04/08 by Xilu Wang, Brian D. Fields, A. Y. Lien +1
Physics and Astronomy · #Active galactic nucleus #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Extinction (optical mineralogy) #Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope #Galactic plane #Galaxy #Gamma ray #Gamma-ray burst #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Line (geometry) #Milky Way #Neutrino Physics Research #Optics #Physics #Spectral line #Supernova #astro-ph.HE
paper · pdf · doi:10.1093/mnras/stz993
9 pages, 7 figures, accepted by MNRAS
arxiv created 2019/04/08 · openalex publication_date 2019/04/08 · arxiv updated 2019/04/17 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
Abstract A Milky Way Type Ia supernova (SNIa) could be unidentified or even initially unnoticed, being dim in radio, X-rays, and neutrinos, and suffering large optical/IR extinction in the Galactic plane. But SNIa emit nuclear gamma-ray lines from 56Ni → 56Co → 56Fe radioactive decays. These lines fall within the Fermi/GBM energy range, and the 56Ni 158 keV line is detectable by Swift/BAT. Both instruments frequently monitor the Galactic plane, which is transparent to gamma rays. Thus GBM and BAT are ideal Galactic SNIa early warning systems. We simulate SNIa MeV light curves and spectra to show that GBM and BAT could confirm a Galactic SNIa explosion, followed by Swift localization and observation in X-rays and UVOIR band. The time of detection depends sensitively on the 56Ni distribution, and can be as early as a few days if \gtrsim 10 \rm per cent of the 56Ni is present in the surface as suggested by SN2014J gamma data.