Rapidly evolving transients in the Dark Energy Survey

Pursiainen, M, Childress, M, Smith, M, Prajs, S, Sullivan, M, Davis, T M, Foley, R J, Asorey, J, Calcino, J, Carollo, D, Curtin, C, D'Andrea, C B, Glazebrook, K, Gutierrez, C, Hinton, S R, Hoormann, J K, Inserra, Cosimo ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3968-4409, Kessler, R, King, A, Kuehn, K, Lewis, G F, Lidman, C, Macaulay, E, Möller, A, Nichol, R C, Sako, M, Sommer, N E, Swann, E, Tucker, B E, Uddin, S A, Wiseman, P, Zhang, B, Abbott, T M C, Abdalla, F B, Allam, S, Annis, J, Avila, S, Brooks, D, Buckley-Geer, E, Burke, D L, Carnero Rosell, A, Carrasco Kind, M, Carretero, J, Castander, F J, Cunha, C E, Davis, C, De Vicente, J, Diehl, H T, Doel, P, Eifler, T F, Flaugher, B, Fosalba, P, Frieman, J, García-Bellido, J, Gruen, D, Gruendl, R A, Gutierrez, G, Hartley, W G, Hollowood, D L, Honscheid, K, James, D J, Jeltema, T, Kuropatkin, N, Li, T S, Lima, M, Maia, M A G, Martini, P, Menanteau, F, Ogando, R L C, Plazas, A A, Roodman, A, Sanchez, E, Scarpine, V, Schindler, R, Smith, R C, Soares-Santos, M, Sobreira, F, Suchyta, E, Swanson, M E C, Tarle, G, Tucker, D L and Walker, A R 2018. Rapidly evolving transients in the Dark Energy Survey. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 481 (1) , pp. 894-917. 10.1093/mnras/sty2309

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Abstract

We present the results of a search for rapidly evolving transients in the Dark Energy Survey Supernova Programme. These events are characterized by fast light-curve evolution (rise to peak in ≲10 d and exponential decline in ≲30 d after peak). We discovered 72 events, including 37 transients with a spectroscopic redshift from host galaxy spectral features. The 37 events increase the total number of rapid optical transients by more than a factor of two. They are found at a wide range of redshifts (0.05 < z < 1.56) and peak brightnesses (−15.75 > Mg > −22.25). The multiband photometry is well fit by a blackbody up to few weeks after peak. The events appear to be hot (T ≈ 10 000–30 000 K) and large (R ≈ 1014 − 2 × 1015 cm) at peak, and generally expand and cool in time, though some events show evidence for a receding photosphere with roughly constant temperature. Spectra taken around peak are dominated by a blue featureless continuum consistent with hot, optically thick ejecta. We compare our events with a previously suggested physical scenario involving shock breakout in an optically thick wind surrounding a core-collapse supernova, we conclude that current models for such a scenario might need an additional power source to describe the exponential decline. We find that these transients tend to favour star-forming host galaxies, which could be consistent with a core-collapse origin. However, more detailed modelling of the light curves is necessary to determine their physical origin.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Physics and Astronomy
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
ISSN:	0035-8711
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	2 January 2019
Date of Acceptance:	21 August 2018
Last Modified:	03 May 2023 18:36
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/117986

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