Explaining Two Recent Intermediate Luminosity Optical Transients (ILOTs) by a Binary Interaction and Jets

Abstract

We propose that two recent intermediate luminosity optical transients (ILOTs), M31LRN 2015 and SN 2015bh (SNHunt 275; PTF 13efv) can be accounted for with a stellar binary model involving mass transfer that leads to the launching of jets. We inspect observations of the ILOT M31LRN 2015 and conclude that it cannot be explained by the onset of a common envelope evolution (CEE). Instead we conjecture that a $M\simeq 1-3{\mathrm{M}}_{\odot }$ main sequence star accreted $\simeq 0.04{\mathrm{M}}_{\odot }$ from the giant star, possibly during a periastron passage. The main sequence star accreted mass through an accretion disc, that launches jets. The radiation from the disk and the collision of the jets with the ambient gas can account for the luminosity of the event. Along similar lines, we suggest that the 2013 eruption of SN 2015bh (SNHunt~275) can also be explained by the High-Accretion-Powered ILOT (HAPI) model. In this case a massive secondary star $M_2\gtrsim 10{\mathrm{M}}_{\odot }$ accreted $\approx 0.05{\mathrm{M}}_{\odot }$ from a much more massive and more evolved star during a periastron passage. If the much more energetic 2015 outburst of SN 2015bh (SNHunt 275) was not a supernova explosion, it might have been a full almost head-on merger event, or else can be accounted for by a the HAPI-jets model in a very highly eccentric orbit.

Accepted for publication in MNRAS

References in corpus (15)

• Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA)
• A New Class of Luminous Transients and A First Census of Their Massive Stellar Progenitors
• The 2008 Luminous Optical Transient in the Nearby Galaxy NGC 300
• An Intermediate Luminosity Transient in NGC300: The Eruption of a Dust-Enshrouded Massive Star
• SN 2008S: A Cool Super-Eddington Wind in a Supernova Impostor
• Binary Stellar Mergers with Marginally-Bound Ejecta: Excretion Disks, Inflated Envelopes, Outflows, and their Luminous Transients
• Dead or Alive? Long-term evolution of SN 2015bh (SNhunt275)
• A Spitzer/IRS Spectrum of the 2008 Luminous Transient in NGC 300: Connection to Proto-Planetary Nebulae
• SN 2015bh: NGC 2770's 4th supernova or a luminous blue variable on its way to a Wolf-Rayet star?
• A Luminous Red Nova in M31 and its Progenitor System
• The Environment of M85 optical transient 2006-1: constraints on the progenitor age and mass
• PTF 13efv - An outburst 500 days prior to the SNHunt 275 explosion and its radiative efficiency
• The January 2015 outburst of a red nova in M31
• Common Powering Mechanism of Intermediate Luminosity Optical Transients and Luminous Blue Variables
• The energy source of intermediate luminosity optical transients

Cited by in corpus (25)

• Lessons from the Onset of a Common Envelope Episode: the Remarkable M31 2015 Luminous Red Nova Outburst
• Dead or Alive? Long-term evolution of SN 2015bh (SNhunt275)
• Bound Outflows, Unbound Ejecta, and the Shaping of Bipolar Remnants during Stellar Coalescence
• Supernovae 2016bdu and 2005gl, and their link with SN 2009ip-like transients: another piece of the puzzle
• Light Curve Model for Luminous Red Novae and Inferences about the Ejecta of Stellar Mergers
• Common envelope jets supernova (CEJSN) impostors resulting from a neutron star companion
• Catching a star before explosion: the luminous blue variable progenitor of SN 2015bh
• Luminous Red Nova AT 2019zhd, a new merger in M 31
• Efficiently jet-powered radiation in intermediate-luminosity optical transients (ILOTS)
• Observations of the luminous red nova AT 2021biy in the nearby galaxy NGC 4631
• Supernova PTF12glz: a possible shock breakout driven through an aspherical wind
• Gap Transients Interacting with Circumstellar Medium
• An intermediate-luminosity-optical-transient (ILOT) model for the young stellar object ASASSN-15qi
• Explaining recently studied intermediate luminosity optical transients (ILOTs) with jet powering
• Panchromatic evolution of three luminous red novae: Forbidden hugs in pandemic times -- IV
• Intermediate Luminosity Optical Transients (ILOTs) from merging giants
• Fast Ejecta Resulted from Jet-Wind Interaction in the Great Eruption of Eta Carinae
• The circumstellar matter of type II intermediate luminosity optical transients (ILOTs)
• Two-Dimensional Radiation-Hydrodynamic Simulations of Luminous Red Novae
• Pre-explosion, explosion, and post-explosion jets in supernova SN 2019zrk
• A rapidly fading star as a type II obscuring intermediate luminosity optical transient (ILOT) in a triple star system
• Accretion in the Binary System GG Carinae and Implications for B[e] Supergiants
• Intermediate-luminosity red transients: Spectrophotometric properties and connection to electron-capture supernova explosions
• Hubble Space Telescope Imaging Reveals That SN 2015bh Is Much Fainter than Its Progenitor
• Faint intermediate luminosity optical transients (ILOTs) from engulfing exoplanets on the Hertzsprung gap