University of California, Davis, U.S.A.
Posters.
Early high-cadence monitoring of supernovae: key to identifying the progenitors
Supernova Remnants II: An Odyssey in Space after Stellar Death
3-8 June 2019, Chania, Crete, Greece
Abstract
There is mounting evidence that supernovae exhibit short term variations, such as UV flashes in their pre-maximum light curves (SN2017cbv; Hosseinzadeh et al. 2017) and rapid variability (SN2014J; Bonanos & Boumis 2016). Given the implications these variations have on their progenitors, we presented results of monitoring the optical light curves of 2 out of 8 bright SNe, primarily using the 2.3m Aristarchos telescope and 1.2m Kryoneri telescope. The supernovae were observed over several nights during the early and late evolution with a cadence of 30-120s and high precision differential aperture photometry was derived. Differential light curves with respect to all comparison stars available on each night, as well as reconstructed light curves after implementing the Trend Filtering Algorithm (TFA; Kovacs et al. 2005) are presented. We derive the decline slope of each supernova on each night and quantify the precision of our photometry and variability in the light curves, after accounting for sources of systematic error.
Exploring the diversity of early supernova light curves with high-cadence photometry
European Week of Astronomy
& Space Science, EWASS
3-6 April 2018, Liverpool, United Kingdom
Abstract
We present results of high-cadence monitoring (on the order of seconds-minutes) of the optical light curves of bright SNe before and near maximum using the 2.3m Aristarchos (2016gsn, 2016gsb, 2016gfr & 2018gv) telescope and the 1.2m Kryoneri telescope. We derive high precision differential aperture photometry and present differential light curves with respect to all comparison stars available on each night, as well as reconstructed light curves after implementing the Trend filtering Algorithm (TFA; Kovacs et al. 2005).
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Motivation
Rapid variability before and near the maximum of the light curves of supernovae has the potential to provide a better understanding of nearly every aspect of supernovae, from their explosion physics to their progenitors and the circumstellar environment. Thanks to modern time-domain optical surveys that are discovering supernovae in the early stage of their evolution, we have the unique chance to capture their intraday behaviour before their maximum