Abstract
The light curve of Type I supernovae (SNe I), i.e. the explosion of H-deficient stars, is mainly powered by radioactive decay. Despite their different physical origin, thermonuclear explosions of white dwarfs (SNe Ia) and core-collapse explosions of massive stars with H-free envelopes (SNe Ib/c) can be understood in the same framework. The overall morphology of the light curves is similar for all SNe I. The small radius of the progenitor is responsible for the rapid degrading of the shock energy, leading to a fast initial peak that is usually unobserved. Thereafter, the luminosity of the SN and the shape of its light curve are determined by the radioactive energy input (56Ni and56Co are the primary radioactive isotopes that power the light curve) and by the mass of the ejecta and the energy of the explosion. The energy of the explosion sets the expansion velocity which then critically determines the density and opacity of the gas. Physical parameters of the progenitor star and the explosion itself can be estimated from the shape of the light curve or derived more accurately by modeling the evolution of the light curve and the spectra simultaneously.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ambwani K, Sutherland P (1988) Gamma-ray spectra and energy deposition for type IA supernovae. ApJ 325:820
Arnett WD (1982) Type I supernovae. I – analytic solutions for the early part of the light curve. ApJ 253:785
Bersten MC, Benvenuto O, Hamuy M (2011) Hydrodynamical models of Type II plateau supernovae. ApJ 729:61
Bersten MC, Benvenuto OG, Nomoto K et al (2012) The Type IIb supernova 2011dh from a supergiant progenitor. Astrophys J 757:31
Bodansky D, Clayton DD, Fowler WA (1968) Nuclear quasi-equilibrium during silicon burning. ApJ Supp 16:299
Colgate SA, McKee C (1969) Early supernova luminosity. ApJ 157:623
Colgate SA, White RH (1966) The hydrodynamic behavior of supernovae explosions. ApJ 143:626
Dessart L, Hillier DJ, Livne E et al (2011) Core-collapse explosions of Wolf-Rayet stars and the connection to Type IIb/Ib/Ic supernovae. MNRAS 414:2985
Falk SW, Arnett WD (1977) Radiation dynamics, envelope ejection, and supernova light curves. ApJ Supp 33:515
Grasberg EK, Imshenik VS, Nadyozhin DK (1971) On the theory of the light curves of supernovate. Ap & Space Sci 10:3
Krisciunas K, Li W, Matheson T et al (2011) The most slowly declining Type Ia supernova 2001ay. Astron J 142:74
Lucy LB (1999) Computing radiative equilibria with Monte Carlo techniques. Astron Astrophys 344:282
Lyman JD, Bersier D, James PA et al (2016) Bolometric light curves and explosion parameters of 38. MNRAS 457:328
Mazzali PA, Röpke FK, Benetti S, Hillebrandt W (2007) A common explosion mechanism for Type Ia supernovae. Science 315:825
Mazzali PA, Maurer I, Valenti S, Kotak R, Hunter D (2010) The Type Ic SN 2007gr: a census of the ejecta from late-time optical-infrared spectra. MNRAS 408:87
Mazzali PA, Walker ES, Pian E et al (2013) The very energetic, broad-lined Type Ic supernova 2010ah (PTF10bzf) in the context of GRB/SNe. MNRAS 432:2463
Phillips MM (1993) The absolute magnitudes of Type IA supernovae. MNRAS 413:L105
Swartz DA, Sutherland PG, Harkness RP (1995) Gamma ray transfer and energy deposition in supernovae. ApJ 446:766
Truran JW, Arnett WD, Cameron AGW (1967) Nucleosynthesis in supernova shock waves. Can J Phys 45:2315
Weaver TA (1976) The structure of supernova shock waves. ApJ Suppl 32:233
Woosley SE, Weaver TA (1986) The physics of supernova explosions. ARA&A 24:205
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Bersten, M.C., Mazzali, P.A. (2017). Light Curves of Type I Supernovae. In: Alsabti, A., Murdin, P. (eds) Handbook of Supernovae. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20794-0_25-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20794-0_25-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-20794-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-20794-0
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Physics and AstronomyReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Chemistry, Materials and Physics