The Dual-Axis Circumstellar Environment of the Type IIn Supernova 1997eg

Abstract

We present multi-epoch spectral and spectropolarimetric observations of the Type IIn supernova (SN) 1997eg that indicate the presence of a flattened disk-like concentration of circumstellar material surrounding nonspherical ejecta, with which the disk is misaligned. The polarization across the broad H alpha, H beta, and He I 5876 lines of SN 1997eg forms closed loops when viewed in the Stokes q-u plane. Such loops occur when the geometrical symmetry of one or both of the Stokes parameters across spectral lines is broken, in this case most likely by occultation of the ejecta by the equatorial circumstellar matter concentration. The polarization of the narrow Balmer lines possesses an intrinsic axis that differs by 12 degrees from that of the elongated ejecta and probably indicates the orientation of the disk-like circumstellar material. The existence of two different axes of symmetry in SN 1997eg suggests that neither rotation of the progenitor nor the influence of a companion star can be the sole mechanism creating a preferred axis within the supernova system. Our model supports the emerging hypothesis that the progenitors of some Type IIn supernovae are luminous blue variable stars, whose pre-supernova mass eruptions form the circumstellar shells that physically characterize the SN IIn subclass. These conclusions, which are independent of interstellar polarization effects, would have been unobservable with only a single epoch of spectropolarimetry.

52 pages, 13 figures; accepted by ApJ. Several sections revised in response to referee comments. High-resolution figures are available at http://grammai.org/jhoffman/1997eg/

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