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Parrent, Jerod

Publications and source records attributed to Parrent, Jerod.

An Open Catalog for Supernova Data

We present the Open Supernova Catalog , an online collection of observations and metadata for presently 36,000+ supernovae and related candidates. The catalog is freely available on the web (https://sne.space), with its main interface having been designed to be a user-friendly, rapidly searchable table accessible on desktop and mobile devices. In addition to the primary catalog table containing supernova metadata, an individual page is generated for each supernova, which displays its available metadata, light curves, and spectra spanning X-ray to radio frequencies. The data presented in the catalog is automatically rebuilt on a daily basis and is constructed by parsing several dozen sources, including the data presented in the supernova literature and from secondary sources such as other web-based catalogs. Individual supernova data is stored in the hierarchical, human- and machine-readable JSON format, with the entirety of each supernova’s data being contained within a single JSON file bearing its name. The setup we present here, which is based on open-source software maintained via git repositories hosted on github, enables anyone to download the entirety of the supernova data set to their home computer in minutes, and to make contributions of their own data back to the catalog via git. As the supernova data set continues to grow, especially in the upcoming era of all-sky synoptic telescopes, which will increase the total number of events by orders of magnitude, we hope that the catalog we have designed will be a valuable tool for the community to analyze both historical and contemporary supernovae.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

A DEEP SEARCH FOR PROMPT RADIO EMISSION FROM THERMONUCLEAR SUPERNOVAE WITH THE VERY LARGE ARRAY

Searches for circumstellar material around Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are some of the most powerful tests of the nature of SN Ia progenitors, and radio observations provide a particularly sensitive probe of this material. Here, we report radio observations for SNe Ia and their lower-luminosity thermonuclear cousins. We present the largest, most sensitive, and spectroscopically diverse study of prompt (Δt≲1 years) radio observations of 85 thermonuclear SNe, including 25 obtained by our team with the unprecedented depth of the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array. With these observations, SN 2012cg joins SN 2011fe and SN 2014J as an SN Ia with remarkably deep radio limits and excellent temporal coverage (six epochs, spanning 5–216 days after explosion, implying M-dot /v{sub w}≲5×10{sup −9} ((M{sub ⊙} yr{sup −1})/(100 km s{sup −1})), assuming ϵ{sub B} = 0.1 and ϵ{sub e} = 0.1). All observations yield non-detections, placing strong constraints on the presence of circumstellar material. We present analytical models for the temporal and spectral evolution of prompt radio emission from thermonuclear SNe as expected from interaction with either wind-stratified or uniform density media. These models allow us to constrain the progenitor mass loss rates, with limits in the range of M-dot ≲10{sup −9}−10{sup −4} M{sub ⊙} yr{sup −1}, assuming a wind velocity of v{sub w} = 100 km s{sup −1}. We compare our radio constraints with measurements of Galactic symbiotic binaries to conclude that ≲10% of thermonuclear SNe have red giant companions.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Progenitors of type IIb supernovae in the light of radio and X-rays from SN 2013df

We present radio and X-ray observations of the nearby SN IIb 2013df in NGC 4414 from 10 to 250 days after the explosion. The radio emission showed a peculiar steep-to-shallow spectral evolution. We present a model in which inverse Compton cooling of synchrotron emitting electrons can account for the observed spectral and light curve evolution. A significant mass-loss rate, M-dot ≈8×10{sup −5} M{sub ⊙} yr{sup −1} for a wind velocity of 10 km s{sup −1}, is estimated from the detailed modeling of radio and X-ray emission, which are primarily due to synchrotron and bremsstrahlung, respectively. We show that SN 2013df is similar to SN 1993J in various ways. The shock wave speed of SN 2013df was found to be average among the radio supernovae; v{sub sh}/c∼0.07. We did not find any significant deviation from smooth decline in the light curve of SN 2013df. One of the main results of our self-consistent multiband modeling is the significant deviation from energy equipartition between magnetic fields and relativistic electrons behind the shock. We estimate ϵ{sub e}=200ϵ{sub B}. In general for SNe IIb, we find that the presence of bright optical cooling envelope emission is linked with free–free radio absorption and bright thermal X-ray emission. This finding suggests that more extended progenitors, similar to that of SN 2013df, suffer from substantial mass loss in the years before the supernova.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗