THE HYDROGEN-POOR SUPERLUMINOUS SUPERNOVA iPTF 13ajg AND ITS HOST GALAXY IN ABSORPTION AND EMISSION

• Published in: The Astrophysical journal Vol. 797; no. 1; pp. 1 - 15
• Main Authors: Vreeswijk, Paul M, Savaglio, Sandra, Gal-Yam, Avishay, de Cia, Annalisa, Quimby, Robert M, Sullivan, Mark, Cenko, S Bradley, Perley, Daniel A, Filippenko, Alexei V, Clubb, Kelsey I
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 10-12-2014
• Subjects: ABSORPTION; ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY; ATOMS; BOLOMETERS; COSMIC GAMMA BURSTS; DENSITY; EMISSION; Factories; FINE STRUCTURE; GALAXIES; GAMMA-GAMMA LOGGING; HYDROGEN; Industrial plants; Interstellar matter; Iron; ISM: atoms; LUMINOSITY; MASS; RED SHIFT; SPECTROSCOPY; Star formation rate; SUPERNOVAE; supernovae: general; supernovae: individual (iPTF 13ajg); Supernovas; TELESCOPES; TRANSIENTS
• ISSN: 0004-637X; 1538-4357; 1538-4357
• DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/797/1/24

We present imaging and spectroscopy of a hydrogen-poor superluminous supernova (SLSN) discovered by the intermediate Palomar Transient Factory, iPTF 13ajg. We detect narrow absorption lines of Mg I, Mg II, and Fe II, associated with the cold interstellar medium in the host galaxy, at two different epochs with X-shooter at the Very Large Telescope. This suggests that the environments of hydrogen-poor SLSNe and GRBs are different. From the nondetection of Fe II fine-structure absorption lines, we derive a lower limit on the distance between the supernova and the narrow-line absorbing gas of 50 pc.The neutral gas responsible for the absorption in iPTF 13ajg exhibits a single narrow component with a low velocity width, Delta V = 76 km s super(-1), indicating a low-mass host galaxy. No host galaxy emission lines are detected, leading to an upper limit on the unobscured star formation rate (SFR) of SFR sub([OII]) < 0.07M sub([middot in circle]) yr sub(-1).