Serendipitous Nebular-phase JWST Imaging of SN Ia SN 2021aefx: Testing the Confinement of 56 Co Decay Energy

Chen, Ness Mayker and Tucker, Michael A. and Hoyer, Nils and Jha, Saurabh W. and Kwok, Lindsey A. and Leroy, Adam K. and Rosolowsky, Erik and Ashall, Chris and Anand, Gagandeep and Bigiel, Frank and Boquien, Médéric and Burns, Chris and Dale, Daniel and DerKacy, James M. and Egorov, Oleg V. and Galbany, L. and Grasha, Kathryn and Hassani, Hamid and Hoeflich, Peter and Hsiao, Eric and Klessen, Ralf S. and Lopez, Laura A. and Lu, Jing and Morrell, Nidia and Orellana, Mariana and Pinna, Francesca and Sarbadhicary, Sumit K. and Schinnerer, Eva and Shahbandeh, Melissa and Stritzinger, Maximilian and Thilker, David A. and Williams, Thomas G. (2023) Serendipitous Nebular-phase JWST Imaging of SN Ia SN 2021aefx: Testing the Confinement of 56 Co Decay Energy. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 944 (2). L28. ISSN 2041-8205

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/acb6d8

Abstract

We present new 0.3–21 μm photometry of SN 2021aefx in the spiral galaxy NGC 1566 at +357 days after B-band maximum, including the first detection of any Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) at >15 μm. These observations follow earlier JWST observations of SN 2021aefx at +255 days after the time of maximum brightness, allowing us to probe the temporal evolution of the emission properties. We measure the fraction of flux emerging at different wavelengths and its temporal evolution. Additionally, the integrated 0.3–14 μm decay rate of Δm0.3–14 = 1.35 ± 0.05 mag/100 days is higher than the decline rate from the radioactive decay of 56Co of ∼1.2 mag/100 days. The most plausible explanation for this discrepancy is that flux is shifting to >14 μm, and future JWST observations of SNe Ia will be able to directly test this hypothesis. However, models predicting nonradiative energy loss cannot be excluded with the present data.

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	Open Library Press > Physics and Astronomy
Depositing User:	Unnamed user with email support@openlibrarypress.com
Date Deposited:	18 Apr 2023 05:42
Last Modified:	18 Apr 2023 05:42
URI:	https://openlibrarypress.com/id/eprint/1058

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