The effects of the scattering opacity and the color temperature on numerically modelling of the first peak of type IIb supernovae

  • Park, Seong Hyun (Astronomy Program, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Seoul National University) ;
  • Yoon, Sung-Chul (Astronomy Program, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Seoul National University)
  • Published : 2020.10.13

Abstract

A type IIb supernova (SN IIb) is the result of core-collapse of a massive star which lost most of its hydrogen-rich envelope during its evolution. The pre-SN progenitor properties, such as the total radius and the mass of the hydrogen-rich envelope, can widely vary due to the mass-loss history of the progenitors. Optical light curves of SNe IIb are dominated by energy released by the hydrogen recombination and the radioactive decay of 56Ni in the early and late epochs respectively. This may result in distinctive double peaked light curves like the one observed in SN 1993J. The first peak, caused by the hydrogen recombination, can be modelled with numerical simulations providing information on the pre-SN progenitor properties. We compare two radiation-hydrodynamics codes, STELLA and SNEC, that are frequently used in SNe modelling, and investigate the effect of opacity treatment on the temporal evolution of the color temperature of SNe and eventually on the optical light curves. We find that with a proper treatment of the scattering opacity, SNe IIb models exploded from the progenitor models evolved with latest stellar evolution model hardly match the observational data. We also discuss the smaller scale features found in the models during hydrogen recombination phase.

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