Evidence for a possible black hole remnant in the Type IIL Supernova 1979C
✍ Scribed by D.J. Patnaude; A. Loeb; C. Jones
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 2011
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 220 KB
- Volume
- 16
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1384-1076
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✦ Synopsis
We present an analysis of archival X-ray observations of the Type IIL supernova SN 1979C. We find that its X-ray luminosity is remarkably constant at (6.5 ± 0.1) Â 10 38 erg s À1 over a period of 12 years between 1995 and 2007. The high and steady luminosity is considered as possible evidence for a stellar-mass ($5-10 M ) black hole accreting material from either a supernova fallback disk or from a binary companion, or possibly from emission from a central pulsar wind nebula. We find that the bright and steady X-ray light curve is not consistent with either a model for a supernova powered by magnetic braking of a rapidly rotating magnetar, or a model where the blast wave is expanding into a dense circumstellar wind.