Light Curves of Pair-Instability Supernovae

摘要

For the initial mass range 140 ＜ M ＜ 260 M_⊙, stars die in a thermonuclear runaway triggered by the pair-production instability. Their supernovae can be remarkably energetic and synthesize considerable amounts of radioactive isotopes. We present a set of calculations modeling the evolution, explosion, and observational signatures of pair-instability supernovae spanning a range of initial masses and envelope structures. We compare the resulting light curves and spectra to recent observations of luminous nearby supernovae, including the most compelling candidate pair-instability event to date. SN2007bi.