Simulating highly eccentric common envelope jet supernova impostors

Ron Schreier, Shlomi Hillel, Sagiv Shiber, Noam Soker

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

We conduct three-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations of eccentric common envelope jet supernova (CEJSN) impostors, i.e. a neutron star that crosses through the envelope of a red supergiant star on a highly eccentric orbit and launches jets as it accretes mass from the envelope. Because of numerical limitations, we apply a simple prescription where we inject the assumed jets' power into two opposite conical regions inside the envelope. We find the outflow morphology to be very complicated, clumpy, and non-spherical, having a large-scale symmetry only about the equatorial plane. The outflow morphology can substantially differ between simulations that differ by their jets' power. We estimate by simple means the light curve to be very bumpy, to have a rise time of one to a few months, and to slowly decay in about a year to several years. These eccentric CEJSN impostors will be classified as 'gap' objects, i.e. having a luminosity between those of classical novae and typical supernovae (termed also ILOTs for intermediate luminosity optical transients). We strengthen a previous conclusion that CEJSN impostors might account for some peculiar ILOTs, in particular those that might repeat over time-scales of months to years.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2386-2398
Number of pages13
JournalMONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
Volume508
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Dec 2021

Keywords

  • Supernovae: general
  • binaries: close
  • stars: jets
  • transients: supernovae

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

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