Evidence for a pulsar wind nebula in the Type Ib-peculiar supernova SN 2012au

Abstract

We present an optical spectrum of the energetic Type Ib supernova (SN) 2012au obtained at an unprecedented epoch of 6.2 years after explosion. Forbidden transition emission lines of oxygen and sulfur are detected with expansion velocities of 2300 km/s. The lack of narrow H Balmer lines suggests that interaction with circumstellar material is not a dominant source of the observed late-time emission. We also present a deep Chandra observation that reveals no X-ray emission down to a luminosity of L_X < 2 x 10^{38} erg/s (0.5-10 keV). Our findings are consistent with the notion that SN 2012au is associated with a diverse subset of SNe, including long-duration gamma-ray burst SNe and superluminous SNe, harboring pulsar/magnetar wind nebulae that influence core-collapse explosion dynamics on a wide range of energy scales. We hypothesize that these systems may all evolve into a similar late-time phase dominated by forbidden oxygen transitions, and predict that emission line widths should remain constant or broaden a few per cent per year due to the acceleration of ejecta by the pulsar/magnetar bubble.

arXiv comment9 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in ApJL

References in corpus (42)

• The Leiden/Argentine/Bonn (LAB) Survey of Galactic HI: Final data release of the combined LDS and IAR surveys with improved stray-radiation corrections
• Collapsars - Gamma-Ray Bursts and Explosions in "Failed Supernovae"
• Cosmic-Ray Rejection by Laplacian Edge Detection
• Supernova Light Curves Powered by Young Magnetars
• The Proto-Magnetar Model for Gamma-Ray Bursts
• The Expulsion of Stellar Envelopes in Core-Collapse Supernovae
• Supernova 2007bi as a pair-instability explosion
• Shock Breakout in Dense Mass Loss: Luminous Supernovae
• CHIANTI - An atomic database for Emission Lines. Version 8
• Super Luminous Ic Supernovae: catching a magnetar by the tail
• Magnetar Spindown, Hyper-Energetic Supernovae, and Gamma Ray Bursts
• Millisecond Magnetar Birth Connects FRB 121102 to Superluminous Supernovae and Long Duration Gamma-ray Bursts
• A very luminous magnetar-powered supernova associated with an ultra-long gamma-ray burst
• Slowly fading super-luminous supernovae that are not pair-instability explosions
• The Diversity of Transients from Magnetar Birth
• Hydrogen-Poor Superluminous Supernovae and Long-Duration Gamma-Ray Bursts Have Similar Host Galaxies
• Kinematics of the Local Universe XIII. 21-cm line measurements of 452 galaxies with the Nançay radiotelescope, JHK Tully-Fisher relation and preliminary maps of the peculiar velocity field
• Optical Spectroscopy of Type Ib/c Supernovae
• Ultra-bright optical transients are linked with type Ic supernovae
• Dust and the type II-plateau supernova 2004et
• Optical and Infrared Spectroscopy of SN 1999ee and SN 1999ex
• Long Gamma-Ray Transients from Collapsars
• Metamorphosis of SN 2014C: Delayed Interaction Between a Hydrogen Poor Core-collapse Supernova and a Nearby Circumstellar Shell
• An upper limit to the energy of gamma-ray bursts indicates that GRB/SNe are powered by magnetars
• Thermal and non-thermal emission from circumstellar interaction
• Empirical constraints on the origin of fast radio bursts: volumetric rates and host galaxy demographics as a test of millisecond magnetar connection
• Hydrogen-Poor Superluminous Supernovae from the Pan-STARRS1 Medium Deep Survey
• Hydrogen-poor Superluminous Supernovae With Late-time H-alpha Emission: Three Events From the Intermediate Palomar Transient Factory
• A Hubble Space Telescope Survey of the Host Galaxies of Superluminous Supernovae
• Superluminous supernova 2015bn in the nebular phase: evidence for the engine-powered explosion of a stripped massive star
• Hydrogen-Poor Circumstellar Shells from Pulsational Pair-Instability Supernovae with Rapidly Rotating Progenitors
• Late Emission from the Type Ib/c SN 2001em: Overtaking the Hydrogen Envelope
• Late-Time Optical Emission From Core-Collapse Supernovae
• SN 2012au: A Golden Link Between Superluminous Supernovae and Their Lower-Luminosity Counterparts
• Nebular-phase spectra of superluminous supernovae: physical insights from observational and statistical properties
• Stripped-envelope supernova SN 2004dk is now interacting with hydrogen-rich circumstellar material
• A Luminous and Fast-Expanding Type Ib Supernova SN 2012au
• Jets in Hydrogen-poor Super-luminous Supernovae: Constraints from a Comprehensive Analysis of Radio Observations
• Pulsar Wind Bubble Blowout from a Supernova
• The Evolution of Late-Time Optical Emission From SN 1979C
• Associating Fast Radio Bursts with Extragalactic Radio Sources: General Methodology and a Search for a Counterpart to FRB 170107
• Peculiar Supernovae

Cited by in corpus (31)

• Revealing reionization with the thermal history of the intergalactic medium: new constraints from the Lyman-$\alpha$ flux power spectrum
• The Evolution of O I over 3.2 < z < 6.5: Reionization of the Circumgalactic Medium
• Gamma-ray Thermalization and Leakage from Millisecond Magnetar Nebulae: Towards a Self-Consistent Model for Superluminous Supernovae
• Luminous Late-time Radio Emission from Supernovae Detected by the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array Sky Survey (VLASS)
• On the diversity of magnetar-driven kilonovae
• A Search for Late-Time Radio Emission and Fast Radio Bursts from Superluminous Supernovae
• Photometric, polarimetric, and spectroscopic studies of the luminous, slow-decaying Type Ib SN 2012au
• Dust masses for a large sample of core-collapse supernovae from optical emission line asymmetries: dust formation on 30-year timescales
• Three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations of supernova ejecta with a central energy source
• Three-Dimensional Kinematic Reconstruction of the Optically-Emitting, High-Velocity, Oxygen-Rich Ejecta of Supernova Remnant N132D
• Towards Nebular Spectral Modeling of Magnetar-Powered Supernovae
• Seven Years of SN 2014C: a Multi-Wavelength Synthesis of an Extraordinary Supernova
• The luminous late-time emission of the type Ic supernova iPTF15dtg - evidence for powering from a magnetar?
• Subaru High-z Exploration of Low-Luminosity Quasars (SHELLQs). XI. Proximity Zone Analysis for Faint Quasar Spectra at z~6
• From young to old: the evolutionary path of Pulsar Wind Nebulae
• Dust formation in embryonic pulsar-aided supernova remnants
• 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
• Where is the engine hiding its missing energy? Constraints from a deep X-ray non-detection of the Superluminous SN 2015bn
• Probing the Innermost Ejecta Layers in SNR Kes 75: Implications for the Supernova Progenitor
• Late-Time Evolution and Modeling of the Off-Axis Gamma-ray Burst Candidate FIRST J141918.9+394036
• Post maximum light and late time optical imaging polarimetry of type I superluminous supernova 2020znr
• Direct evidence of two-component ejecta in supernova 2016gkg from nebular spectroscopy
• The long-term influence of a magnetar power in stripped-envelope supernovae. Radiative-transfer modeling of He-star explosions from 1 to 10 years
• Large Cold Dust Reservoir Revealed in Transitional SN Ib 2014C by James Webb Space Telescope Mid-Infrared Spectroscopy
• Multi-Peaked Non-Thermal Light Curves from Magnetar-Powered Gamma-Ray Bursts
• Investigating the observational properties of Type Ib supernova SN 2017iro
• Detection of Late-Time Optical Emission from SN 1941C in NGC 4136
• VERITAS and Fermi-LAT constraints on the Gamma-ray Emission from Superluminous Supernovae SN2015bn and SN2017egm
• Dynamics and observational signatures of core-collapse supernovae with central engines: hydrodynamics simulations with Monte Carlo post-processing
• VLBI Observations of SN 2012au Reveal a Compact Radio Source a Decade Post Explosion
• Discovery of young, oxygen-rich supernova remnants in PHANGS-MUSE galaxies