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Gal-Yam A, Bruch R, Schulze S, Yang Y, Perley DA, Irani I, Sollerman J, Kool EC, Soumagnac MT, Yaron O, Strotjohann NL, Zimmerman E, Barbarino C, Kulkarni SR, Kasliwal MM, De K, Yao Y, Fremling C, Yan L, Ofek EO, Fransson C, Filippenko AV, Zheng W, Brink TG, Copperwheat CM, Foley RJ, Brown J, Siebert M, Leloudas G, Cabrera-Lavers AL, Garcia-Alvarez D, Marante-Barreto A, Frederick S, Hung T, Wheeler JC, Vinkó J, Thomas BP, Graham MJ, Duev DA, Drake AJ, Dekany R, Bellm EC, Rusholme B, Shupe DL, Andreoni I, Sharma Y, Riddle R, van Roestel J, Knezevic N. A WC/WO star exploding within an expanding carbon-oxygen-neon nebula. Nature 2022; 601:201-204. [PMID: 35022591 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-04155-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2021] [Accepted: 10/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
The final fate of massive stars, and the nature of the compact remnants they leave behind (black holes and neutron stars), are open questions in astrophysics. Many massive stars are stripped of their outer hydrogen envelopes as they evolve. Such Wolf-Rayet stars1 emit strong and rapidly expanding winds with speeds greater than 1,000 kilometres per second. A fraction of this population is also helium-depleted, with spectra dominated by highly ionized emission lines of carbon and oxygen (types WC/WO). Evidence indicates that the most commonly observed supernova explosions that lack hydrogen and helium (types Ib/Ic) cannot result from massive WC/WO stars2,3, leading some to suggest that most such stars collapse directly into black holes without a visible supernova explosion4. Here we report observations of SN 2019hgp, beginning about a day after the explosion. Its short rise time and rapid decline place it among an emerging population of rapidly evolving transients5-8. Spectroscopy reveals a rich set of emission lines indicating that the explosion occurred within a nebula composed of carbon, oxygen and neon. Narrow absorption features show that this material is expanding at high velocities (greater than 1,500 kilometres per second), requiring a compact progenitor. Our observations are consistent with an explosion of a massive WC/WO star, and suggest that massive Wolf-Rayet stars may be the progenitors of some rapidly evolving transients.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Gal-Yam
- Department of Particle Physics and Astrophysics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.
| | - R Bruch
- Department of Particle Physics and Astrophysics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - S Schulze
- Department of Particle Physics and Astrophysics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.,The Oskar Klein Centre, Department of Astronomy and Department of Physics, AlbaNova, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Y Yang
- Department of Particle Physics and Astrophysics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.,Department of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - D A Perley
- Astrophysics Research Institute, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK
| | - I Irani
- Department of Particle Physics and Astrophysics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - J Sollerman
- The Oskar Klein Centre, Department of Astronomy and Department of Physics, AlbaNova, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - E C Kool
- The Oskar Klein Centre, Department of Astronomy and Department of Physics, AlbaNova, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - M T Soumagnac
- Department of Particle Physics and Astrophysics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.,Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - O Yaron
- Department of Particle Physics and Astrophysics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - N L Strotjohann
- Department of Particle Physics and Astrophysics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - E Zimmerman
- Department of Particle Physics and Astrophysics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - C Barbarino
- The Oskar Klein Centre, Department of Astronomy and Department of Physics, AlbaNova, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - S R Kulkarni
- Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - M M Kasliwal
- Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - K De
- Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - Y Yao
- Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - C Fremling
- Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - L Yan
- Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - E O Ofek
- Department of Particle Physics and Astrophysics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - C Fransson
- The Oskar Klein Centre, Department of Astronomy and Department of Physics, AlbaNova, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - A V Filippenko
- Department of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.,Miller Institute for Basic Research in Science, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - W Zheng
- Department of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - T G Brink
- Department of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - C M Copperwheat
- Astrophysics Research Institute, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK
| | - R J Foley
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
| | - J Brown
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
| | - M Siebert
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
| | - G Leloudas
- DTU Space, National Space Institute, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | | | | | | | - S Frederick
- Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
| | - T Hung
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
| | - J C Wheeler
- Department of Astronomy, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
| | - J Vinkó
- Department of Astronomy, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.,Konkoly Observatory, ELKH CSFK, Budapest, Hungary.,Department of Optics and Quantum Electronics, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary.,ELTE Institute of Physics, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
| | - B P Thomas
- Department of Astronomy, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
| | - M J Graham
- Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - D A Duev
- Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - A J Drake
- Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - R Dekany
- Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - E C Bellm
- DIRAC Institute, Department of Astronomy, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - B Rusholme
- IPAC, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - D L Shupe
- IPAC, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - I Andreoni
- Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - Y Sharma
- Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - R Riddle
- Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - J van Roestel
- Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - N Knezevic
- Department of Astronomy, Faculty of Mathematics, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
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