* Astronomy

Title: Ten Months of Observations of the Possible Super-Chandrasekhar Mass Type Ia Supernova 2009dc
Authors: Jeffrey M. Silverman (1), Mohan Ganeshalingam (1), Weidong Li (1), Alexei V. Filippenko (1), Adam A. Miller (1), Dovi Poznanski (1) ((1) Department of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, CA)

In this paper, we present and analyse optical photometry and spectra of the extremely luminous and slowly evolving Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) 2009dc, and offer evidence that it is a super-Chandrasekhar mass (SC) SN Ia and thus had a SC white dwarf (WD) progenitor. Optical spectra of SN 2007if, a similar object, are also shown. SN 2009dc had one of the most slowly evolving light curves ever observed for a SN Ia, with a rise time of ~23 days and Delta m_15(B) = 0.72 mag. We calculate a lower limit to the peak bolometric luminosity of ~2.1e43 erg/s, though the actual value is likely ~60% larger. Optical spectra of SN 2009dc and SN 2007if obtained near maximum brightness exhibit strong CII features (indicative of a significant amount of unburned material), and the post-maximum spectra are dominated by iron-group elements. All of our spectra of SN 2009dc and SN 2007if also show low expansion velocities. The high luminosity and low expansion velocities of SN 2009dc lead us to derive a possible WD progenitor mass of more than 2 M_sun and a Ni-56 mass of ~1.7 M_sun. We propose that the host galaxy of SN 2009dc underwent a gravitational interaction with a neighbouring galaxy in the relatively recent past. This may have led to a sudden burst of star formation which could have produced the SC WD progenitor of SN 2009dc and likely turned the neighbouring galaxy into a "post-starburst galaxy." No published model seems to match the extreme values observed in SN 2009dc, but simulations do show that such massive progenitors can exist (likely as a result of the merger of two WDs) and can possibly explode as SC SNe Ia.

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