Optical follow-up observations of PTF10qts, a luminous broad-lined Type Ic supernova found by the Palomar Transient Factory

• Published in: Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Vol. 442; no. 3; pp. 2768 - 2779
• Main Authors: Walker, E. S., Mazzali, P. A., Pian, E., Hurley, K., Arcavi, I., Cenko, S. B., Gal-Yam, A., Horesh, A., Kasliwal, M., Poznanski, D., Silverman, J. M., Sullivan, M., Bloom, J. S., Filippenko, A. V., Kulkarni, S. R., Nugent, P. E., Ofek, E., Barthelmy, S., Boynton, W., Goldsten, J., Golenetskii, S., Ohno, M., Tashiro, M. S., Yamaoka, K., Zhang, X. L-.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Oxford University Press 11.08.2014
• Subjects: Dwarf stars; Gamma ray astronomy; Optics; Red shift; Spectrum analysis; Star & galaxy formation; Supernovae; supernovae: general; supernovae: individual: PTF10qts
• ISSN: 0035-8711; 1365-2966
• DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stu1017

We present optical photometry and spectroscopy of the broad-lined Type Ic supernova (SN Ic-BL) PTF10qts, which was discovered as part of the Palomar Transient Factory. The SN was located in a dwarf galaxy of magnitude r = 21.1 at a redshift z = 0.0907. We find that the R-band light curve is a poor proxy for bolometric data and use photometric and spectroscopic data to construct and constrain the bolometric light curve. The derived bolometric magnitude at maximum light is M bol = −18.51 ± 0.2 mag, comparable to that of SN 1998bw (M bol = −18.7 mag) which was associated with a gamma-ray burst (GRB). PTF10qts is one of the most luminous SNe Ic-BL observed without an accompanying GRB. We estimate the physical parameters of the explosion using data from our programme of follow-up observations, finding that it produced a larger mass of radioactive nickel compared to other SNe Ic-BL with similar inferred ejecta masses and kinetic energies. The progenitor of the event was likely an ∼20 M⊙ star.