• DOI:10.1088/2041-8205/788/1/L14
• Corpus ID: 118395580

SN 2008D: A WOLF–RAYET EXPLOSION THROUGH A THICK WIND

@article{Svirski2014SN2A,
  title={SN 2008D: A WOLF–RAYET EXPLOSION THROUGH A THICK WIND},
  author={Gilad Svirski and Ehud Nakar},
  journal={The Astrophysical Journal Letters},
  year={2014},
  volume={788}
}

• Gilad Svirski, E. Nakar
• Published 13 March 2014
• Physics
• The Astrophysical Journal Letters

Supernova (SN) 2008D/XRT 080109 is considered to be the only direct detection of a shock breakout from a regular SN to date. While a breakout interpretation was favored by several papers, inconsistencies remain between the observations and current SN shock breakout theory. Most notably, the duration of the luminous X-ray pulse is considerably longer than expected for a spherical breakout through the surface of a type Ibc SN progenitor, and the X-ray radiation features, mainly its flat spectrum and its luminosity evolution, are enigmatic. We apply a recently developed theoretical model for the observed radiation from a Wolf–Rayet SN exploding through a thick wind and show that it naturally explains all of the observed features of SN 2008D X-ray emission, including the energetics, the spectrum, and the detailed luminosity evolution. We find that the inferred progenitor and SN parameters are typical for an exploding Wolf–Rayet. A comparison of the wind density found at the breakout radius and the density at much larger radii, as inferred by late radio observations, suggests an enhanced mass-loss rate taking effect about 10 days prior to the SN explosion. This finding joins accumulating evidence for a possible late phase in the stellar evolution of massive stars, involving vigorous mass loss a short time before the SN explosion.