Collapsars as Sites of r-process Nucleosynthesis: Systematic Photometric Near-infrared Follow-up of Type Ic-BL Supernovae

February 2024 • 2024ApJ...962...68A

Authors • Anand, Shreya • Barnes, Jennifer • Yang, Sheng • Kasliwal, Mansi M. • Coughlin, Michael W. • Sollerman, Jesper • De, Kishalay • Fremling, Christoffer • Corsi, Alessandra • Ho, Anna Y. Q. • Balasubramanian, Arvind • Omand, Conor • Srinivasaragavan, Gokul P. • Cenko, S. Bradley • Ahumada, Tomás • Andreoni, Igor • Dahiwale, Aishwarya • Das, Kaustav Kashyap • Jencson, Jacob • Karambelkar, Viraj • Kumar, Harsh • Metzger, Brian D. • Perley, Daniel • Sarin, Nikhil • Schweyer, Tassilo • Schulze, Steve • Sharma, Yashvi • Sit, Tawny • Stein, Robert • Tartaglia, Leonardo • Tinyanont, Samaporn • Tzanidakis, Anastasios • van Roestel, Jan • Yao, Yuhan • Bloom, Joshua S. • Cook, David O. • Dekany, Richard • Graham, Matthew J. • Groom, Steven L. • Kaplan, David L. • Masci, Frank J. • Medford, Michael S. • Riddle, Reed • Zhang, Chaoran

Abstract • One of the open questions following the discovery of GW170817 is whether neutron star (NS) mergers are the only astrophysical sites capable of producing r-process elements. Simulations have shown that 0.01–0.1 M _⊙ of r-process material could be generated in the outflows originating from the accretion disk surrounding the rapidly rotating black hole that forms as a remnant to both NS mergers and collapsing massive stars associated with long-duration gamma-ray bursts (collapsars). The hallmark signature of r-process nucleosynthesis in the binary NS merger GW170817 was its long-lasting near-infrared (NIR) emission, thus motivating a systematic photometric study of the light curves of broad-lined stripped-envelope (Ic-BL) supernovae (SNe) associated with collapsars. We present the first systematic study of 25 SNe Ic-BL—including 18 observed with the Zwicky Transient Facility and 7 from the literature—in the optical/NIR bands to determine what quantity of r-process material, if any, is synthesized in these explosions. Using semi-analytic models designed to account for r-process production in SNe Ic-BL, we perform light curve fitting to derive constraints on the r-process mass for these SNe. We also perform independent light curve fits to models without the r-process. We find that the r-process-free models are a better fit to the light curves of the objects in our sample. Thus, we find no compelling evidence of r-process enrichment in any of our objects. Further high-cadence infrared photometric studies and nebular spectroscopic analysis would be sensitive to smaller quantities of r-process ejecta mass or indicate whether all collapsars are completely devoid of r-process nucleosynthesis.

Links

• SIMBAD http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbo.pl?bibcode=2024ApJ...962...68A
• PDF https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ad11df/pdf
• PREPRINT http://arxiv.org/abs/2302.09226
• ELECTR https://doi.org/10.3847%2F1538-4357%2Fad11df