Several months ago , asuspected supernovawas discovered that had scientist scratching their heads . If confirmed as a supernova , ASASSN-15lh would be twice as lambent and 10 times brighter than the previous record bearer , stretching our theory of vizor supernova light . But is this the burnished a supernova can be ?
Two astrophysicists have sought to answer this interrogation , and found that it is very nearly – but not quite – the limit . PhD candidate Tuguldur Sukhbold from the University of California , Santa Cruz , and his executive program Stan Woosley , think that a luminosity 6 trillion time that of the Sun – 10 times the measured brightness of ASASSN-15lh – is the limit for so - called ace - aglow supernovae ( SLSNs ) .
In their paper , submitted to The Astrophysical Journal Letters and available onArxiv , the two scientist compared theoretical models for various character of supernova , and retrieve there was one in particular that can be extremely energetic . This is an detonation from a compact core of a massive star that forms a magnetar , a apace spinning neutron star with an fabulously firm magnetic field . The parent star loses mass to a comrade and explodes , exit behind the rapidly spinning magnetar , which boost the supernova ’s power .
“ We find that the most powerful reference of vigor is rotary motion , and the so - shout out magnetar - powered supernova event are up to of producing the promising and the most lucent explosions , ” Sukhbold tell IFLScience . “ In practice session the numbers associated with ASASSN-15lh are pretty much the limit . ”
accord to their calculations , a magnetar with a magnetic force field 20 trillion prison term stronger than the Sun ( which is quite weak for a magnetar ) , and an initial twist of 1,500 rotations per secondly , could make this supposed level best supernova . The ground that there is a terminal point is down to the initial size of the neutron star . As Woosley explain to IFLScience , if a neutron star has a bond energy holding it together more than one - sixth the rest mass muscularity of the Sun , it will likely collapse into a black pickle before a supernova can take spot .
An creative person ’s impression of what ASASSN-15lh would await like from a planet 10,000 lightsome - years from the event . Beijing Planetarium / Jin Ma
If ASASSN-15lh is a supernova , the only possible explanation for its luminosity seems to be this magnetar - formation possibility , paint a picture that the hypothesized 6 - trillion - sun supernova could occur . Explosions of this order of magnitude are thought to be extremely rarefied , with only one in a million supernovae expected to be anywhere almost as bright , and find them may rely on upcoming scope like the James Webb Space Telescope ( JWST ) .
However , we ’re not sure ASASSN-15lh is a supernova yet ; Sukhbold enounce it could be a very dissimilar type of violent phenomenon call a tidal - hoo-hah event ( TDE ) . “ In a TDE scenario a star gets too tight to the supermassive black hole at the center of the wandflower , and gets shredded by the black golf hole ’s powerful tidal force out , ” he explained . “ The result bright flare pass light often looks similar to a supernova explosion for some catamenia of time , and so it is not always well-to-do to recognise the two right away . ”
The uranologist also note that it is potential there are other more energetic types of supernova , as they only consider supernovae bright in optical Light Within create through known methods . “ We have disregard some other truly extreme cases , like those from Gamma - ray burst events and supermassive stars many ten thousand times the mass of the Sun that collapse through a very unlike mechanism , ” state Sukhbold .
For now though , 6 trillion Suns appear to be the terminal point . “ I ca n’t think of any other conventional agency of make a supernova brighter than a magnetar can , ” said Sukhbold . “ But nature is rich and she is very adept at surprising us , and I am anxious to see what crazy things we will detect in the futurity . ”
