Abstract
A core collapse supernova occurs when exothermic fusion ceases in the core of a massive star, which is typically caused by exhaustion of nuclear fuel. Theory predicts that fusion could be interrupted earlier by merging of the star with a compact binary companion. We report a luminous radio transient, VT J121001+495647, found in the Very Large Array Sky Survey. The radio emission is consistent with supernova ejecta colliding with a dense shell of material, potentially ejected by binary interaction in the centuries before explosion. We associate the supernova with an archival x-ray transient, which implies that a relativistic jet was launched during the explosion. The combination of an early relativistic jet and late-time dense interaction is consistent with expectations for a merger-driven explosion.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1125-1129 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | Science |
| Volume | 373 |
| Issue number | 6559 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 3 Sep 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:D.Z.D. and G.H. were supported by National Science Foundation (NSF) grant AST-1654815. G.H., D.Z.D., and A.H. were supported by the United States?Israel Binational Science Foundation (grant 2018154). A.H. also acknowledges support from the I-Core Program of the Planning and Budgeting Committee and the Israel Science Foundation and ISF grant 647/18. A.Y.Q.H. and K.D. were supported by the GROWTH project funded by the NSF under PIRE grant 1545949. A.K.H. was supported by NSERC Discovery Grants RGPIN-2016-06569 and RGPIN-2021-04001. A.Y.Q.H. was supported by the Miller Institute for Basic Research in Science at the University of California, Berkeley. K.H. was supported by JSPS Early-Career Scientists grant 20K14513. S.M. was supported by the NRAO. S.R.K. was supported by the Heising-Simons Foundation.
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