近日，以色列特拉维夫大学的Ehud Nakar及其研究团队取得一项新进展。经过不懈努力，他们利用剥离包层超新星的光曲线证实中心引擎的活动。相关研究成果已于2024年4月17日在国际权威学术期刊《自然》上发表。

该研究团队深入分析了54个得到充分观测的剥离包层超新星样本的能量收支情况，并成功提出了统计上显著、且基本不受模型限制的观测证据，有力证明其中绝大多数（甚至可能是全部）超新星存在非放射性动力源。研究人员考虑了可能导致这一结果的各种能量来源，或者合理的系统误差，并得出结论，最合理的解释是存在一个长寿命的中心引擎，它在爆炸后约10³至10⁶秒的时间里持续运行。

研究人员还从观测数据中推导出了关于引擎性能的约束条件。例如，如果中心引擎是一颗磁化的中子星，那么它的初始磁场强度应约为10¹⁵G，而初始旋转周期则应在1至100毫秒之间。这一发现暗示剥离包层超新星可能是磁星这类天体形成的重要事件。

据悉，剥离包层超新星是一种常见的恒星爆炸现象，其亮度主要源于爆炸过程中合成的镍的放射性衰变，这些镍随后被带入喷射物中。尽管先前已有其他可能的能量来源被提出，但其中两个基于观测的论据尤为引人关注。一是通过比较观测到的时间加权光度与推断的放射性功率，二是通过对比光曲线与特定理论模型。然而，前者所得结果并不具备统计学上的显著性，而后者则高度依赖于所采纳的特定理论模型。

附：英文原文

Title: Stripped-envelope supernova light curves argue for central engine activity

Author: Rodrguez, smar, Nakar, Ehud, Maoz, Dan

Issue&Volume: 2024-04-17

Abstract: The luminosity of stripped-envelope supernovae, a common type of stellar explosion, is believed to be mainly driven by the radioactive decay of the nickel synthesized in the explosion and carried in its ejecta. Additional possible energy sources have been previously suggested, in which the two most observationally based results have been from a comparison of the observed time-weighted luminosity with the inferred radioactive power and from a comparison of the light curves with particular theoretical models. However, the former result was not statistically significant, and the latter is highly dependent on the specific models assumed. Here we analyse the energy budget of a sample of 54 well-observed stripped-envelope supernovae of all sub-types and present statistically significant, largely model-independent, observational evidence for a non-radioactive power source in most of them (and possibly in all). We consider various energy sources, or alternatively, plausible systematic errors, that could drive this result, and conclude that the most likely option is the existence of a long-lived central engine, operating over ≈10³–10⁶s after the explosion. We infer, from the observations, constraints on the engine properties. If, for example, the central engine is a magnetized neutron star, then the initial magnetic field is ≈10¹⁵G and the initial rotation period is 1–100ms, suggesting that stripped-envelope supernovae may constitute the formation events of the objects known as magnetars.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07262-x

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07262-x