Circumstellar Material in Type Ia Supernovae via Sodium Absorption Features

Sternberg, A.; Gal-Yam, A.; Simon, J. D.; Leonard, D. C.; Quimby, R. M.; Phillips, M. M.; Morrell, N.; Thompson, I. B.; Ivans, I.; Marshall, J. L.; Filippenko, A. V.; Marcy, G. W.; Bloom, J. S.; Patat, F.; Foley, R. J.; Yong, D.; Penprase, B. E.; Beeler, D. J.; Allende-Prieto, C.; Stringfellow, G. S.
Bibliographical reference

Science, Volume 333, Issue 6044, pp. 856- (2011).

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8
2011
Journal
Number of authors
20
IAC number of authors
1
Citations
221
Refereed citations
202
Description
Type Ia supernovae are key tools for measuring distances on a cosmic scale. They are generally thought to be the thermonuclear explosion of an accreting white dwarf in a close binary system. The nature of the mass donor is still uncertain. In the single-degenerate model it is a main-sequence star or an evolved star, whereas in the double-degenerate model it is another white dwarf. We show that the velocity structure of absorbing material along the line of sight to 35 type Ia supernovae tends to be blueshifted. These structures are likely signatures of gas outflows from the supernova progenitor systems. Thus, many type Ia supernovae in nearby spiral galaxies may originate in single-degenerate systems.
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