PS1-12sk is a Peculiar Supernova From a He-rich Progenitor System in a Brightest Cluster Galaxy Environment

Abstract

We report on our discovery and observations of the Pan-STARRS1 supernova (SN) PS1-12sk, a transient with properties that indicate atypical star formation in its host galaxy cluster or pose a challenge to popular progenitor system models for this class of explosion. The optical spectra of PS1-12sk classify it as a Type Ibn SN (c.f. SN 2006jc), dominated by intermediate-width (3x10^3 km/s) and time variable He I emission. Our multi-wavelength monitoring establishes the rise time dt = 9-23 days and shows an NUV-NIR SED with temperature > 17x10^3 K and a peak rise magnitude of Mz = -18.9 mag. SN Ibn spectroscopic properties are commonly interpreted as the signature of a massive star (17 - 100 M_sun) explosion within a He-enriched circumstellar medium. However, unlike previous Type Ibn supernovae, PS1-12sk is associated with an elliptical brightest cluster galaxy, CGCG 208-042 (z = 0.054) in cluster RXC J0844.9+4258. The expected probability of an event like PS1-12sk in such environments is low given the measured infrequency of core-collapse SNe in red sequence galaxies compounded by the low volumetric rate of SN Ibn. Furthermore, we find no evidence of star formation at the explosion site to sensitive limits (Sigma Halpha < 2x10^-3 M_sun/yr/kpc^2). We therefore discuss white dwarf binary systems as a possible progenitor channel for SNe Ibn. We conclude that PS1-12sk represents either a fortuitous and statistically unlikely discovery, evidence for a top-heavy IMF in galaxy cluster cooling flow filaments, or the first clue suggesting an alternate progenitor channel for Type Ibn SNe.

arXiv comment16 pages, 9 figures, v2 as accepted by ApJ, more information at http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~nsanders/papers/12sk/summary.htm

References in corpus (124)

• emcee: The MCMC Hammer
• The Sloan Digital Sky Survey: Technical Summary
• Measuring Reddening with SDSS Stellar Spectra and Recalibrating SFD
• Star Formation in Galaxies Along the Hubble Sequence
• The Leiden/Argentine/Bonn (LAB) Survey of Galactic HI: Final data release of the combined LDS and IAR surveys with improved stray-radiation corrections
• The physical properties of star forming galaxies in the low redshift universe
• Detailed Structural Decomposition of Galaxy Images
• The Galaxy Evolution Explorer: A Space Ultraviolet Survey Mission
• The Host Galaxies and Classification of Active Galactic Nuclei
• How Massive Single Stars End their Life
• Detailed Decomposition of Galaxy Images. II. Beyond Axisymmetric Models
• The Nucleosynthetic Signature of Population III
• UV Star Formation Rates in the Local Universe
• The Ninth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Spectroscopic Data from the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey
• The Eighth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Data from SDSS-III
• The Mass Function of an X-Ray Flux-Limited Sample of Galaxy Clusters
• The Pan-STARRS1 Photometric System
• Galaxy Groups in the SDSS DR4: I. The Catalogue and Basic Properties
• Photometric Calibration of the Swift Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope
• Nearby Supernova Rates from the Lick Observatory Supernova Search. II. The Observed Luminosity Functions and Fractions of Supernovae in a Complete Sample
• Galaxy Zoo 1 : Data Release of Morphological Classifications for nearly 900,000 galaxies
• The Northern ROSAT All-Sky (NORAS) Galaxy Cluster Survey I: X-ray Properties of Clusters Detected as Extended X-ray Sources
• Rates and properties of type Ia supernovae as a function of mass and star-formation in their host galaxies
• Comparison of H-alpha and UV Star Formation Rates in the Local Volume: Systematic Discrepancies for Dwarf Galaxies
• What is a Cool-Core Cluster? A Detailed Analysis of the Cores of the X-ray Flux-Limited HIFLUGCS Cluster Sample
• The First Systematic Study of Type Ibc Supernova Multi-band Light Curves
• A giant outburst two years before the core-collapse of a massive star
• Faint Thermonuclear Supernovae from AM Canum Venaticorum Binaries
• Evidence for an asymptotic giant branch star in the progenitor system of a type Ia supernova
• On the origin of the O and B-type stars with high velocities II Runaway stars and pulsars ejected from the nearby young stellar groups
• PTF11kx: A Type-Ia Supernova with a Symbiotic Nova Progenitor
• A faint type of supernova from a white dwarf with a helium-rich companion
• Sub-Chandrasekhar Mass Models For Type Ia Supernovae
• The Unprecedented 2012 Outburst of SN 2009ip: A Luminous Blue Variable Becomes a True Supernova
• The ESSENCE Supernova Survey: Survey Optimization, Observations, and Supernova Photometry
• SN 2006jc: A Wolf-Rayet Star Exploding in a Dense He-Rich Circumstellar Medium
• On the progenitor of SN 2005gl and the nature of Type IIn supernovae
• Double-detonation sub-Chandrasekhar supernovae: synthetic observables for minimum helium shell mass models
• An Infrared Survey of Brightest Cluster Galaxies. II: Why are Some Brightest Cluster Galaxies Forming Stars?
• Interacting Supernovae and Supernova Impostors. SN 2009ip, is this the end?
• Nearby Supernova Factory Observations of SN 2005gj: Another Type Ia Supernova in a Massive Circumstellar Envelope
• Runaway stars as progenitors of supernovae and gamma-ray bursts
• The Broad-lined Type Ic SN 2003jd
• The Long-Term Evolution of Double White Dwarf Mergers
• Calcium-rich gap transients in the remote outskirts of galaxies
• SN 2008ha: An Extremely Low Luminosity and Extremely Low Energy Supernova
• The supernova delay time distribution in galaxy clusters and implications for Type-Ia progenitors and metal enrichment
• Testing LMC Microlensing Scenarios: The Discrimination Power of the SuperMACHO Microlensing Survey
• Ultraviolet Light Curves of Supernovae with Swift Uvot
• Massive stars exploding in a He-rich circumstellar medium. I. Type Ibn (SN 2006jc-like) events
• Pan-STARRS1 Discovery of Two Ultra-Luminous Supernovae at z ~ 0.9
• Core-Collapse Supernovae and Host Galaxy Stellar Populations
• Prelude to a double degenerate merger: the onset of mass transfer and its impact on gravitational waves and surface detonations
• SN 2004aw: Confirming Diversity of Type Ic Supernovae
• Dust Formation and He II 4686 emission in the Dense Shell of the Peculiar Type Ib Supernova 2006jc
• A low energy core-collapse supernova without a hydrogen envelope
• Long Gamma-Ray Bursts and Type Ic Core Collapse Supernovae Have Similar Locations in Hosts
• Spectral Evolution of the Extraordinary Type IIn Supernova 2006gy
• Nearby Supernova Rates from the Lick Observatory Supernova Search. I. The Methods and Database
• A Two-Component Model for the Light Curves of Hypernovae
• Unstable Helium Shell Burning on Accreting White Dwarfs
• Optical and Infrared photometry of the type IIn SN 1998S:Days 11-146
• Type Ia Supernovae are Good Standard Candles in the Near Infrared: Evidence from PAIRITEL
• The Diversity of Massive Star Outbursts I: Observations of SN 2009ip, UGC 2773 OT2009-1, and Their Progenitors
• Every BCG with a strong radio AGN has an X-ray cool core: is the cool core - noncool core dichotomy too simple?
• Theoretical Modeling of the Thermal State of Accreting White Dwarfs Undergoing Classical Novae
• Groups and clusters of galaxies in the SDSS DR8. Value-added catalogues
• A Spitzer Survey for Dust in Type IIn Supernovae
• A Massive Progenitor of the Luminous Type IIn Supernova 2010jl
• SN 2009jf: a slow-evolving stripped-envelope core-collapse supernova
• A Population of Intergalactic Supernovae in Galaxy Clusters
• Type Ia Supernova Light Curve Inference: Hierarchical Bayesian Analysis in the Near Infrared
• A Study of Carbon Features in Type Ia Supernova Spectra
• Massive stars exploding in a He-rich circumstellar medium III. SN 2006jc: IR echoes from new and old dust in the progenitor CSM
• Precise Throughput Determination of the PanSTARRS Telescope and the Gigapixel Imager using a Calibrated Silicon Photodiode and a Tunable Laser: Initial Results
• A Spectroscopic Study of Type Ibc Supernova Host Galaxies from Untargeted Surveys
• The Expanded Very Large Array
• The Outermost Ejecta of Type Ia Supernovae
• Three-dimensional AMR simulations of long-duration Gamma-Ray Burst jets inside massive progenitor stars
• The supernova rate in local galaxy clusters
• Massive stars exploding in a He-rich circumstellar medium. II. The transitional case of SN 2005la
• Swift and Chandra Detections of Supernova 2006jc: Evidence for Interaction of the Supernova Shock with a Circumstellar Shell
• The Viscous Evolution of White Dwarf Merger Remnants
• Helium Emission in the Type Ic SN 1999cq
• Supernovae in Deep Hubble Space Telescope Galaxy Cluster Fields: Cluster Rates and Field Counts
• Nickel-Rich Outflows from Accretion Disks Formed by the Accretion-Induced Collapse of White Dwarfs
• Early Formation of Dust in the Ejecta of Type Ib SN 2006jc and Temperature and Mass of the Dust
• A spectroscopically normal type Ic supernova from a very massive progenitor
• Star Formation Efficiency in the Cool Cores of Galaxy Clusters
• On the nature of the circumstellar medium of the remarkable type Ia/IIn supernova, SN 2002ic
• SN 2011hw: Helium-Rich Circumstellar Gas and the Luminous Blue Variable to Wolf-Rayet Transition in Supernova Progenitors
• The properties of SN Ib/c locations
• PS1-10afx at z=1.388: Pan-STARRS1 Discovery of a New Type of Superluminous Supernova
• On the association between core-collapse supernovae and HII regions
• Supernovae and their host galaxies. I. The SDSS DR8 database and statistics
• The Supernova Impostor Impostor SN 1961V: Spitzer Shows That Zwicky Was Right (Again)
• Supernovae in Low-Redshift Galaxy Clusters: the Type-Ia Supernova Rate
• Ultra-Luminous Supernovae as a New Probe of the Interstellar Medium in Distant Galaxies
• The Type-Ia Supernova Rate in z < 1 Galaxy Clusters: Implications for Progenitors and the Source of Cluster Iron
• Displaying the Heterogeneity of the SN 2002cx-like Subclass of Type Ia Supernovae with Observations of the Pan-STARRS-1 Discovered SN2009ku
• SN 2009kf : a UV bright type IIP supernova discovered with Pan-STARRS 1 and GALEX
• Circumstellar interaction in type Ibn supernovae and SN 2006jc
• Intracluster supernovae in the Multi-epoch Nearby Cluster Survey
• The Peculiar Type Ib Supernova 2006jc: A WCO Wolf-Rayet Star Explosion
• Ultra-Compact Dwarfs in the Coma Cluster
• Early-type galaxies with core collapse supernovae
• The Circumstellar Environment of R Coronae Borealis: White Dwarf Merger or Final Helium Shell Flash?
• The Effect of Composition on Nova Ignitions
• Properties of newly formed dust by SN2006jc based on near-to-mid infrared observation with AKARI
• X-ray Properties of Intermediate-Redshift Groups of Galaxies
• Lightcurves of Type Ia Supernovae from Near the Time of Explosion
• SN 2010ay is a Luminous and Broad-lined Type Ic Supernova within a Low-metallicity Host Galaxy
• The Multi-Epoch Nearby Cluster Survey: type Ia supernova rate measurement in z~0.1 clusters and the late-time delay time distribution
• GALEX and Pan-STARRS1 Discovery of SN IIP 2010aq: The First Few Days After Shock Breakout in a Red Supergiant Star
• Galaxy surface photometry
• Radio Transients from the Accretion Induced Collapse of White Dwarfs
• MMTF-Halpha and HST-FUV Imaging of the Filamentary Complex in Abell 1795
• Optical photometry and spectroscopy of the type Ibn supernova SN 2006jc until the onset of dust formation
• Near-Infrared observations of the type Ib Supernova SN2006jc: evidence of interactions with dust
• Exceptionally Bright Type Ib Supernova 1991D
• Residual Cooling and Persistent Star Formation amid AGN Feedback in Abell 2597
• Early-type host galaxies of Type II and Ib Supernovae
• The Type II Supernova Rate in z~0.1 Galaxy Clusters from the Multi-Epoch Nearby Cluster Survey
• Roles of the kinetic and dynamic mechanisms in the $L_p-E_p$ relation

Cited by in corpus (47)

• Mass Loss: Its Effect on the Evolution and Fate of High-Mass Stars
• Cosmological Constraints from Measurements of Type Ia Supernovae discovered during the first 1.5 years of the Pan-STARRS1 Survey
• A panchromatic view of the restless SN2009ip reveals the explosive ejection of a massive star envelope
• Type Ibn Supernovae Show Photometric Homogeneity and Spectral Diversity at Maximum Light
• Bright, months-long stellar outbursts announce the explosion of interaction-powered supernovae
• A Search for Extragalactic Fast Blue Optical Transients in ZTF and the Rate of AT2018cow-like Transients
• SuperRAENN: A Semi-supervised Supernova Photometric Classification Pipeline Trained on Pan-STARRS1 Medium Deep Survey Supernovae
• Massive stars exploding in a He-rich circumstellar medium. IV. Transitional Type Ibn Supernovae
• Massive stars exploding in a He-rich circumstellar medium - IX. SN 2014av, and characterization of Type Ibn SNe
• CfAIR2: Near Infrared Light Curves of 94 Type Ia Supernovae
• Two New Calcium-Rich Gap Transients in Group and Cluster Environments
• Environments of interacting transients: Impostors and type IIn supernovae
• Signatures of Circumstellar Interaction in the Unusual Transient AT2018cow
• Properties of Type Ibn Supernovae: Implications for the Progenitor Evolution and the Origin of a Population of Rapid Transients
• The Diverse Properties of Type Icn Supernovae Point to Multiple Progenitor Channels
• Type Ibn Supernovae May not all Come from Massive Stars
• Origins of Type Ibn SNe 2006jc/2015G in interacting binaries and implications for pre-SN eruptions
• Circumstellar interaction in supernovae in dense environments - an observational perspective
• Active Anomaly Detection for time-domain discoveries
• Massive stars exploding in a He-rich circumstellar medium. V. Observations of the slow-evolving SN Ibn OGLE-2012-SN-006
• The possible detection of a binary companion to a Type Ibn supernova progenitor
• The Nearby Type Ibn Supernova 2015G: Signatures of Asymmetry and Progenitor Constraints
• Massive stars exploding in a He-rich circumstellar medium. VI. Observations of two distant Type Ibn supernova candidates discovered by La Silla-QUEST
• iPTF13beo: The Double-Peaked Light Curve of a Type Ibn Supernova Discovered Shortly after Explosion
• Flash ionization signatures in the type Ibn supernova SN 2019uo
• OGLE-2014-SN-131: A long-rising Type Ibn supernova from a massive progenitor
• The luminous and rapidly evolving SN 2018bcc: Clues toward the origin of Type Ibn SNe from the Zwicky Transient Facility
• Massive stars exploding in a He-rich circumstellar medium - VII. The metamorphosis of ASASSN-15ed from a narrow line Type Ibn to a normal Type Ib Supernova
• Less than 1% of Core-Collapse Supernovae in the local universe occur in elliptical galaxies
• Circumstellar and explosion properties of Type Ibn supernovae
• Photometric Classification of 2315 Pan-STARRS1 Supernovae with Superphot
• Extreme isolation of WN3/O3 stars and implications for their evolutionary origin as the elusive stripped binaries
• LSQ13ddu: A rapidly-evolving stripped-envelope supernova with early circumstellar interaction signatures
• A new and unusual LBV-like outburst from a Wolf-Rayet star in the outskirts of M33
• SN 2020bqj: a Type Ibn supernova with a long lasting peak plateau
• Late-time H/He-poor circumstellar interaction in the type-Ic supernova SN 2021ocs: an exposed oxygen-magnesium layer and extreme stripping of the progenitor
• SN 2021foa, a transitional event between a Type IIn (SN 2009ip-like) and a Type Ibn supernova
• Supernova Siblings and their Parent Galaxies in the Zwicky Transient Facility Bright Transient Surve
• The Type Ibn Supernova 2019kbj -- Indications for Diversity in Type Ibn Supernova Progenitors
• Evolution of A Peculiar Type Ibn Supernova SN 2019wep
• The Study of Dust Formation of Four Type Ibn Supernovae
• SN 2016hil-- a Type II supernova in the remote outskirts of an elliptical host and its origin
• Massive stars exploding in a He-rich circumstellar medium. XI. Diverse evolution of five Ibn SNe 2020nxt, 2020taz, 2021bbv, 2023utc and 2024aej
• Massive stars exploding in a He-rich circumstellar medium $-$ X. Flash spectral features in the Type Ibn SN 2019cj and observations of SN 2018jmt
• Using the Optical--NIR Spectral Energy Distributions To Search for the Evidence of Dust Formation of 66 Supernovae
• Nested, asymmetric H-He circumstellar shells in the Type Icn/Ibn SN 2024abvb
• Luminous Fast Blue Optical Transients and Type Ibn/Icn SNe from Wolf-Rayet/Black Hole Mergers