Signatures of an eruptive phase before the explosion of the peculiar core-collapse SN 2013gc

Andrea Reguitti; A. Pastorello; G. Pignata; S. Benetti; E. Cappellaro; M. Turatto; C. Agliozzo; F. Bufano; N. I. Morrell; F. E. Olivares; D. E. Reichart; J. B. Haislip; V. Kouprianov; S. J. Smartt; S. Ciroi

doi:10.1093/mnras/sty2870

Signatures of an eruptive phase before the explosion of the peculiar core-collapse SN 2013gc

Andrea Reguitti^*, A. Pastorello, G. Pignata, S. Benetti, E. Cappellaro, M. Turatto, C. Agliozzo, F. Bufano, N. I. Morrell, F. E. Olivares, D. E. Reichart, J. B. Haislip, V. Kouprianov, S. J. Smartt, S. Ciroi

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We present photometric and spectroscopic analysis of the peculiar core-collapse supernova (SN) 2013gc, spanning 7 yr of observations. The light curve shows an early maximum followed by a fast decline and a phase of almost constant luminosity. At +200 d from maximum, a brightening of 1 mag is observed in all bands, followed by a steep linear luminosity decline after +300 d. In archival images taken between 1.5 and 2.5 yr before the explosion, a weak source is visible at the supernova location, with mag ≈20. The early supernova spectra show Balmer lines, with a narrow (∼560 km s-1) P-Cygni absorption superimposed on a broad (∼3400 km s-1) component, typical of Type IIn events. Through a comparison of colour curves, absolute light curves, and spectra of SN 2013gc with a sample of supernovae IIn, we conclude that SN 2013gc is a member of the so-called Type IId subgroup. The complex profile of the Hα line suggests a composite circumstellar medium geometry, with a combination of lower velocity, spherically symmetric gas, and a more rapidly expanding bilobed feature. This circumstellar medium distribution has been likely formed through major mass-loss events that we directly observed from 3 yr before the explosion. The modest luminosity (MI ∼-16.5 near maximum) of SN 2013gc at all phases, the very small amount of ejected 56Ni (of the order of 10-3 M⊙), the major pre-supernova stellar activity, and the lack of prominent [O I] lines in the late-time spectra support a fall-back core-collapse scenario for the massive progenitor of SN 2013gc.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	2750-2769
Number of pages	20
Journal	Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume	482
Issue number	2
Early online date	23 Oct 2018
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/sty2870
Publication status	Published - Jan 2019

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Support for G.P. and F.O.E. is provided by the Ministry of Economy, Development, and Tourism’s Millennium Science Initiative through grant IC120009, awarded to The Millennium Institute of Astrophysics (MAS). F.O.E acknowledges support from the FONDECYT grant N◦ 11170953. The CHASE project is founded by the Millennium Institute for Astrophysics.

Funding Information:
The Pan-STARRS1 Surveys (PS1) and the PS1 public science archive have been made possible through contributions by the Institute for Astronomy, the University of Hawaii, the Pan-STARRS Project Office, the Max-Planck Society and its participating institutes, the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg, and the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching, The Johns Hopkins University, Durham University, the University of Edinburgh, the Queen’s University Belfast, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network Incorporated, the National Central University of Taiwan, the Space Telescope Science Institute, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under Grant No. NNX08AR22G issued through the Planetary Science Division of the NASA Science Mission Directorate, the National Science Foundation Grant No. AST-1238877, the University of Maryland, Eotvos Lorand University (ELTE), the Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

Funding Information:
Based in part on observations at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), Inc. under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. The Dark Energy Camera Plane Survey (DECaPS; NOAO Program Number 2016A-0323 and 2016B-0279, PI: Finkbeiner) includes data obtained at the Blanco telescope, Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO).

Funding Information:
We thank the anonymous referee for helpful comments that improved our paper. This research has made use of the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED), which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Support for G.P. and F.O.E. is provided by the Ministry of Economy, Development, and Tourism's Millennium Science Initiative through grant IC120009, awarded to The Millennium Institute of Astrophysics (MAS). F.O.E acknowledges support from the FONDECYT grant N? 11170953. The CHASE project is founded by the Millennium Institute for Astrophysics. Based in part on data obtained from the ESO Science Archive Facility under programme IDs 188.D-3003, 177.D- 3023 for SN 2013gc, 65.H-0292(D), 66.D-0683(C), 69.D- 0672(A), 67.D-0422(B), 71.D-0265(A), 65.I-0319(A), 65.N- 0287(A), 67.D-0438(B), 77.B-0741(A) for SN 2000P. We thank G. Altavilla for the support on the observations of SN 2000P. Based in part on observations obtained at the Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) telescope, which is a joint project of the Minist?rio da Ci?ncia, Tecnologia, Inova??aos e Comuni??aoes (MCTIC) do Brasil, the U.S. National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), and Michigan State University (MSU). Based in part on observations at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), Inc. under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. The Dark Energy Camera Plane Survey (DECaPS; NOAO Program Number 2016A-0323 and 2016B-0279, PI: Finkbeiner) includes data obtained at the Blanco telescope, Cerro Tololo Inter- American Observatory, National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO). The SARA Observatory is supported by the National Science Foundation (AST-9423922), the Research Corporation, and the State of Florida Technological Research and Development Authority. This research has made use of the NASA/IPAC Infrared Science Archive, which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Based in part on observations acquired through the Gemini Observatory Archive. The Pan-STARRS1 Surveys (PS1) and the PS1 public science archive have been made possible through contributions by the Institute for Astronomy, the University of Hawaii, the Pan- STARRS Project Office, the Max-Planck Society and its participating institutes, the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg, and the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching, The Johns Hopkins University, Durham University, the University of Edinburgh, the Queen's University Belfast, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network Incorporated, the National Central University of Taiwan, the Space Telescope Science Institute, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under Grant No. NNX08AR22G issued through the Planetary Science Division of the NASA Science Mission Directorate, the National Science Foundation Grant No. AST-1238877, the University of Maryland, Eotvos Lorand University (ELTE), the Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. IRAF is distributed by the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, which is operated by Universities for Research in Astronomy. This research has made use of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)'s Astrophysics Data System Bibliographic Services.

Funding Information:
The SARA Observatory is supported by the National Science Foundation (AST-9423922), the Research Corporation, and the State of Florida Technological Research and Development Authority.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 The Authors.

Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

Keywords

Supernovae: general
Supernovae: individual: SN2013gc, SN1994aj, SN1996al, SN1996L, SN2000P

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Astronomy and Astrophysics
Space and Planetary Science

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Reguitti, A., Pastorello, A., Pignata, G., Benetti, S., Cappellaro, E., Turatto, M., Agliozzo, C., Bufano, F., Morrell, N. I., Olivares, F. E., Reichart, D. E., Haislip, J. B., Kouprianov, V., Smartt, S. J., & Ciroi, S. (2019). Signatures of an eruptive phase before the explosion of the peculiar core-collapse SN 2013gc. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 482(2), 2750-2769. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/sty2870

Reguitti, Andrea ; Pastorello, A. ; Pignata, G. ; Benetti, S. ; Cappellaro, E. ; Turatto, M. ; Agliozzo, C. ; Bufano, F. ; Morrell, N. I. ; Olivares, F. E. ; Reichart, D. E. ; Haislip, J. B. ; Kouprianov, V. ; Smartt, S. J. ; Ciroi, S. / Signatures of an eruptive phase before the explosion of the peculiar core-collapse SN 2013gc. In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 2019 ; Vol. 482, No. 2. pp. 2750-2769.

@article{56ddd80507834a509a3334ca5ca9cf56,

title = "Signatures of an eruptive phase before the explosion of the peculiar core-collapse SN 2013gc",

abstract = "We present photometric and spectroscopic analysis of the peculiar core-collapse supernova (SN) 2013gc, spanning 7 yr of observations. The light curve shows an early maximum followed by a fast decline and a phase of almost constant luminosity. At +200 d from maximum, a brightening of 1 mag is observed in all bands, followed by a steep linear luminosity decline after +300 d. In archival images taken between 1.5 and 2.5 yr before the explosion, a weak source is visible at the supernova location, with mag ≈20. The early supernova spectra show Balmer lines, with a narrow (∼560 km s-1) P-Cygni absorption superimposed on a broad (∼3400 km s-1) component, typical of Type IIn events. Through a comparison of colour curves, absolute light curves, and spectra of SN 2013gc with a sample of supernovae IIn, we conclude that SN 2013gc is a member of the so-called Type IId subgroup. The complex profile of the Hα line suggests a composite circumstellar medium geometry, with a combination of lower velocity, spherically symmetric gas, and a more rapidly expanding bilobed feature. This circumstellar medium distribution has been likely formed through major mass-loss events that we directly observed from 3 yr before the explosion. The modest luminosity (MI ∼-16.5 near maximum) of SN 2013gc at all phases, the very small amount of ejected 56Ni (of the order of 10-3 M⊙), the major pre-supernova stellar activity, and the lack of prominent [O I] lines in the late-time spectra support a fall-back core-collapse scenario for the massive progenitor of SN 2013gc. ",

keywords = "Supernovae: general, Supernovae: individual: SN2013gc, SN1994aj, SN1996al, SN1996L, SN2000P",

author = "Andrea Reguitti and A. Pastorello and G. Pignata and S. Benetti and E. Cappellaro and M. Turatto and C. Agliozzo and F. Bufano and Morrell, {N. I.} and Olivares, {F. E.} and Reichart, {D. E.} and Haislip, {J. B.} and V. Kouprianov and Smartt, {S. J.} and S. Ciroi",

note = "Funding Information: Support for G.P. and F.O.E. is provided by the Ministry of Economy, Development, and Tourism{\textquoteright}s Millennium Science Initiative through grant IC120009, awarded to The Millennium Institute of Astrophysics (MAS). F.O.E acknowledges support from the FONDECYT grant N◦ 11170953. The CHASE project is founded by the Millennium Institute for Astrophysics. Funding Information: The Pan-STARRS1 Surveys (PS1) and the PS1 public science archive have been made possible through contributions by the Institute for Astronomy, the University of Hawaii, the Pan-STARRS Project Office, the Max-Planck Society and its participating institutes, the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg, and the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching, The Johns Hopkins University, Durham University, the University of Edinburgh, the Queen{\textquoteright}s University Belfast, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network Incorporated, the National Central University of Taiwan, the Space Telescope Science Institute, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under Grant No. NNX08AR22G issued through the Planetary Science Division of the NASA Science Mission Directorate, the National Science Foundation Grant No. AST-1238877, the University of Maryland, Eotvos Lorand University (ELTE), the Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Funding Information: Based in part on observations at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), Inc. under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. The Dark Energy Camera Plane Survey (DECaPS; NOAO Program Number 2016A-0323 and 2016B-0279, PI: Finkbeiner) includes data obtained at the Blanco telescope, Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO). Funding Information: We thank the anonymous referee for helpful comments that improved our paper. This research has made use of the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED), which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Support for G.P. and F.O.E. is provided by the Ministry of Economy, Development, and Tourism's Millennium Science Initiative through grant IC120009, awarded to The Millennium Institute of Astrophysics (MAS). F.O.E acknowledges support from the FONDECYT grant N? 11170953. The CHASE project is founded by the Millennium Institute for Astrophysics. Based in part on data obtained from the ESO Science Archive Facility under programme IDs 188.D-3003, 177.D- 3023 for SN 2013gc, 65.H-0292(D), 66.D-0683(C), 69.D- 0672(A), 67.D-0422(B), 71.D-0265(A), 65.I-0319(A), 65.N- 0287(A), 67.D-0438(B), 77.B-0741(A) for SN 2000P. We thank G. Altavilla for the support on the observations of SN 2000P. Based in part on observations obtained at the Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) telescope, which is a joint project of the Minist?rio da Ci?ncia, Tecnologia, Inova??aos e Comuni??aoes (MCTIC) do Brasil, the U.S. National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), and Michigan State University (MSU). Based in part on observations at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), Inc. under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. The Dark Energy Camera Plane Survey (DECaPS; NOAO Program Number 2016A-0323 and 2016B-0279, PI: Finkbeiner) includes data obtained at the Blanco telescope, Cerro Tololo Inter- American Observatory, National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO). The SARA Observatory is supported by the National Science Foundation (AST-9423922), the Research Corporation, and the State of Florida Technological Research and Development Authority. This research has made use of the NASA/IPAC Infrared Science Archive, which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Based in part on observations acquired through the Gemini Observatory Archive. The Pan-STARRS1 Surveys (PS1) and the PS1 public science archive have been made possible through contributions by the Institute for Astronomy, the University of Hawaii, the Pan- STARRS Project Office, the Max-Planck Society and its participating institutes, the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg, and the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching, The Johns Hopkins University, Durham University, the University of Edinburgh, the Queen's University Belfast, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network Incorporated, the National Central University of Taiwan, the Space Telescope Science Institute, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under Grant No. NNX08AR22G issued through the Planetary Science Division of the NASA Science Mission Directorate, the National Science Foundation Grant No. AST-1238877, the University of Maryland, Eotvos Lorand University (ELTE), the Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. IRAF is distributed by the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, which is operated by Universities for Research in Astronomy. This research has made use of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)'s Astrophysics Data System Bibliographic Services. Funding Information: The SARA Observatory is supported by the National Science Foundation (AST-9423922), the Research Corporation, and the State of Florida Technological Research and Development Authority. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2018 The Authors. Copyright: Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.",

year = "2019",

month = jan,

doi = "10.1093/mnras/sty2870",

language = "English",

volume = "482",

pages = "2750--2769",

journal = "Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society",

issn = "0035-8711",

publisher = "Oxford University Press",

number = "2",

}

Reguitti, A, Pastorello, A, Pignata, G, Benetti, S, Cappellaro, E, Turatto, M, Agliozzo, C, Bufano, F, Morrell, NI, Olivares, FE, Reichart, DE, Haislip, JB, Kouprianov, V, Smartt, SJ & Ciroi, S 2019, 'Signatures of an eruptive phase before the explosion of the peculiar core-collapse SN 2013gc', Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 482, no. 2, pp. 2750-2769. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/sty2870

Signatures of an eruptive phase before the explosion of the peculiar core-collapse SN 2013gc. / Reguitti, Andrea; Pastorello, A.; Pignata, G.; Benetti, S.; Cappellaro, E.; Turatto, M.; Agliozzo, C.; Bufano, F.; Morrell, N. I.; Olivares, F. E.; Reichart, D. E.; Haislip, J. B.; Kouprianov, V.; Smartt, S. J.; Ciroi, S.

In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 482, No. 2, 01.2019, p. 2750-2769.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

TY - JOUR

T1 - Signatures of an eruptive phase before the explosion of the peculiar core-collapse SN 2013gc

AU - Reguitti, Andrea

AU - Pastorello, A.

AU - Pignata, G.

AU - Benetti, S.

AU - Cappellaro, E.

AU - Turatto, M.

AU - Agliozzo, C.

AU - Bufano, F.

AU - Morrell, N. I.

AU - Olivares, F. E.

AU - Reichart, D. E.

AU - Haislip, J. B.

AU - Kouprianov, V.

AU - Smartt, S. J.

AU - Ciroi, S.

N1 - Funding Information: Support for G.P. and F.O.E. is provided by the Ministry of Economy, Development, and Tourism’s Millennium Science Initiative through grant IC120009, awarded to The Millennium Institute of Astrophysics (MAS). F.O.E acknowledges support from the FONDECYT grant N◦ 11170953. The CHASE project is founded by the Millennium Institute for Astrophysics. Funding Information: The Pan-STARRS1 Surveys (PS1) and the PS1 public science archive have been made possible through contributions by the Institute for Astronomy, the University of Hawaii, the Pan-STARRS Project Office, the Max-Planck Society and its participating institutes, the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg, and the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching, The Johns Hopkins University, Durham University, the University of Edinburgh, the Queen’s University Belfast, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network Incorporated, the National Central University of Taiwan, the Space Telescope Science Institute, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under Grant No. NNX08AR22G issued through the Planetary Science Division of the NASA Science Mission Directorate, the National Science Foundation Grant No. AST-1238877, the University of Maryland, Eotvos Lorand University (ELTE), the Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Funding Information: Based in part on observations at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), Inc. under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. The Dark Energy Camera Plane Survey (DECaPS; NOAO Program Number 2016A-0323 and 2016B-0279, PI: Finkbeiner) includes data obtained at the Blanco telescope, Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO). Funding Information: We thank the anonymous referee for helpful comments that improved our paper. This research has made use of the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED), which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Support for G.P. and F.O.E. is provided by the Ministry of Economy, Development, and Tourism's Millennium Science Initiative through grant IC120009, awarded to The Millennium Institute of Astrophysics (MAS). F.O.E acknowledges support from the FONDECYT grant N? 11170953. The CHASE project is founded by the Millennium Institute for Astrophysics. Based in part on data obtained from the ESO Science Archive Facility under programme IDs 188.D-3003, 177.D- 3023 for SN 2013gc, 65.H-0292(D), 66.D-0683(C), 69.D- 0672(A), 67.D-0422(B), 71.D-0265(A), 65.I-0319(A), 65.N- 0287(A), 67.D-0438(B), 77.B-0741(A) for SN 2000P. We thank G. Altavilla for the support on the observations of SN 2000P. Based in part on observations obtained at the Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) telescope, which is a joint project of the Minist?rio da Ci?ncia, Tecnologia, Inova??aos e Comuni??aoes (MCTIC) do Brasil, the U.S. National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), and Michigan State University (MSU). Based in part on observations at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), Inc. under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. The Dark Energy Camera Plane Survey (DECaPS; NOAO Program Number 2016A-0323 and 2016B-0279, PI: Finkbeiner) includes data obtained at the Blanco telescope, Cerro Tololo Inter- American Observatory, National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO). The SARA Observatory is supported by the National Science Foundation (AST-9423922), the Research Corporation, and the State of Florida Technological Research and Development Authority. This research has made use of the NASA/IPAC Infrared Science Archive, which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Based in part on observations acquired through the Gemini Observatory Archive. The Pan-STARRS1 Surveys (PS1) and the PS1 public science archive have been made possible through contributions by the Institute for Astronomy, the University of Hawaii, the Pan- STARRS Project Office, the Max-Planck Society and its participating institutes, the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg, and the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching, The Johns Hopkins University, Durham University, the University of Edinburgh, the Queen's University Belfast, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network Incorporated, the National Central University of Taiwan, the Space Telescope Science Institute, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under Grant No. NNX08AR22G issued through the Planetary Science Division of the NASA Science Mission Directorate, the National Science Foundation Grant No. AST-1238877, the University of Maryland, Eotvos Lorand University (ELTE), the Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. IRAF is distributed by the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, which is operated by Universities for Research in Astronomy. This research has made use of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)'s Astrophysics Data System Bibliographic Services. Funding Information: The SARA Observatory is supported by the National Science Foundation (AST-9423922), the Research Corporation, and the State of Florida Technological Research and Development Authority. Publisher Copyright: © 2018 The Authors. Copyright: Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2019/1

Y1 - 2019/1

N2 - We present photometric and spectroscopic analysis of the peculiar core-collapse supernova (SN) 2013gc, spanning 7 yr of observations. The light curve shows an early maximum followed by a fast decline and a phase of almost constant luminosity. At +200 d from maximum, a brightening of 1 mag is observed in all bands, followed by a steep linear luminosity decline after +300 d. In archival images taken between 1.5 and 2.5 yr before the explosion, a weak source is visible at the supernova location, with mag ≈20. The early supernova spectra show Balmer lines, with a narrow (∼560 km s-1) P-Cygni absorption superimposed on a broad (∼3400 km s-1) component, typical of Type IIn events. Through a comparison of colour curves, absolute light curves, and spectra of SN 2013gc with a sample of supernovae IIn, we conclude that SN 2013gc is a member of the so-called Type IId subgroup. The complex profile of the Hα line suggests a composite circumstellar medium geometry, with a combination of lower velocity, spherically symmetric gas, and a more rapidly expanding bilobed feature. This circumstellar medium distribution has been likely formed through major mass-loss events that we directly observed from 3 yr before the explosion. The modest luminosity (MI ∼-16.5 near maximum) of SN 2013gc at all phases, the very small amount of ejected 56Ni (of the order of 10-3 M⊙), the major pre-supernova stellar activity, and the lack of prominent [O I] lines in the late-time spectra support a fall-back core-collapse scenario for the massive progenitor of SN 2013gc.

AB - We present photometric and spectroscopic analysis of the peculiar core-collapse supernova (SN) 2013gc, spanning 7 yr of observations. The light curve shows an early maximum followed by a fast decline and a phase of almost constant luminosity. At +200 d from maximum, a brightening of 1 mag is observed in all bands, followed by a steep linear luminosity decline after +300 d. In archival images taken between 1.5 and 2.5 yr before the explosion, a weak source is visible at the supernova location, with mag ≈20. The early supernova spectra show Balmer lines, with a narrow (∼560 km s-1) P-Cygni absorption superimposed on a broad (∼3400 km s-1) component, typical of Type IIn events. Through a comparison of colour curves, absolute light curves, and spectra of SN 2013gc with a sample of supernovae IIn, we conclude that SN 2013gc is a member of the so-called Type IId subgroup. The complex profile of the Hα line suggests a composite circumstellar medium geometry, with a combination of lower velocity, spherically symmetric gas, and a more rapidly expanding bilobed feature. This circumstellar medium distribution has been likely formed through major mass-loss events that we directly observed from 3 yr before the explosion. The modest luminosity (MI ∼-16.5 near maximum) of SN 2013gc at all phases, the very small amount of ejected 56Ni (of the order of 10-3 M⊙), the major pre-supernova stellar activity, and the lack of prominent [O I] lines in the late-time spectra support a fall-back core-collapse scenario for the massive progenitor of SN 2013gc.

KW - Supernovae: general

KW - Supernovae: individual: SN2013gc, SN1994aj, SN1996al, SN1996L, SN2000P

U2 - 10.1093/mnras/sty2870

DO - 10.1093/mnras/sty2870

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85070375982

VL - 482

SP - 2750

EP - 2769

JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

JF - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

SN - 0035-8711

IS - 2

ER -