However, despite extensive efforts, no SN Ia has ever been detected at radio wavelengths, which suggests a clean environment and a companion star that is itself a degenerate WD star. Here we report on the study of SN 2020eyj, a SN Ia showing helium-rich CSM, as revealed by its spectral features, infrared emission and, for the first time in a SN Ia, a radio counterpart. Based on our modeling, we conclude the CSM likely originates from a single-degenerate (SD) binary system where a WD accretes material from a helium donor star, an often hypothesized formation channel for SNe Ia.
The CSM interaction in SN 2020eyj is also confirmed, for the first time in a SN Ia, through the detection of a radio counterpart, at a frequency of 5.1 GHz at 605 and 741 days after the first detection. Follow-up in the X-rays did not yield a detection. We model the radio synchrotron emission, which results from the shock interaction between the ejecta and the CSM.
For the SD shell model, the radio detections are best explained with a CSM mass of M_csm = 0.36 M⊙ (see ‘CSM shells’ section in Methods), with the expectation that the radio light curve will start to drop off rapidly at around 900 days.
Previously on this blog:
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