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A mildly relativistic radio jet from the otherwise normal type Ic supernova 2007gr
Citation
Paragi, Z and Taylor, GB and Kouveliotou, C and Granot, J and Ramirez-Ruiz, E and Bietenholz, M and van der Horst, AJ and Pidopryhora, Y and van Langevelde, HJ and Garrett, MA and Szomoru, A and Argo, MK and Bourke, S and Paczynski, B, A mildly relativistic radio jet from the otherwise normal type Ic supernova 2007gr, Nature, 463 pp. 516-518. ISSN 0028-0836 (2010) [Refereed Article]
Copyright Statement
Copyright 2010 MacMillan Publishing Group
Abstract
The class of type Ic supernovae have drawn increasing attention since 1998 owing to their sparse association (only four so far) with long duration γ-ray bursts (GRBs)1, 2, 3, 4. Although both phenomena originate from the core collapse of a massive star, supernovae emit mostly at optical wavelengths, whereas GRBs emit mostly in soft γ-rays or hard X-rays. Though the GRB central engine generates ultra-relativistic jets, which beam the early emission into a narrow cone, no relativistic outflows have hitherto been found in type Ib/c supernovae explosions, despite theoretical expectations5, 6, 7 and searches8. Here we report radio (interferometric) observations that reveal a mildly relativistic expansion in a nearby type Ic supernova, SN 2007gr. Using two observational epochs 60 days apart, we detect expansion of the source and establish a conservative lower limit for the average apparent expansion velocity of 0.6c. Independently, a second mildly relativistic supernova has been reported9. Contrary to the radio data, optical observations10, 11, 12, 13 of SN 2007gr indicate a typical type Ic supernova with ejecta velocities ~6,000 km s-1, much lower than in GRB-associated supernovae. We conclude that in SN 2007gr a small fraction of the ejecta produced a low-energy mildly relativistic bipolar radio jet, while the bulk of the ejecta were slower and, as shown by optical spectropolarimetry14, mildly aspherical.
Item Details
Item Type: | Refereed Article |
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Research Division: | Physical Sciences |
Research Group: | Astronomical sciences |
Research Field: | Stellar astronomy and planetary systems |
Objective Division: | Expanding Knowledge |
Objective Group: | Expanding knowledge |
Objective Field: | Expanding knowledge in the physical sciences |
UTAS Author: | Pidopryhora, Y (Dr Yurii Pidopryhora) |
ID Code: | 95781 |
Year Published: | 2010 |
Web of Science® Times Cited: | 45 |
Deposited By: | Mathematics and Physics |
Deposited On: | 2014-10-08 |
Last Modified: | 2014-12-02 |
Downloads: | 0 |
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