Low-luminosity type IIP supermnovae: SN 2005cs and SN 2020cxd as very low-energy iron core-collapse explosions

SN 2020cxd is a representative of the family of low-energy, underluminous Type IIP supernovae (SNe), whose observations and analysis were recently reported by Yang et al. (2021). Here, we re-evaluate the observational data for the diagnostic SN properties by employing the hydrodynamic explosion model of a 9 M-circle dot red supergiant progenitor with an iron core and a pre-collapse mass of 8.75 M-circle dot. The explosion of the star was obtained by the neutrino-driven mechanism in a fully self-consistent simulation in three dimensions (3D). Multiband light curves and photospheric velocities for the plateau phase are computed with the one-dimensional radiation-hydrodynamics code STELLA, applied to the spherically averaged 3D explosion model as well as sphericized radial profiles in different directions of the 3D model. We find that the overall evolution of the bolometric light curve, duration of the plateau phase, and basic properties of the multiband emission can be well reproduced by our SN model with its explosion energy of only 0.7 x 10(50) erg and an ejecta mass of 7.4 M-circle dot. These values are considerably lower than the previously reported numbers, but they are compatible with those needed to explain the fundamental observational properties of the prototype low-luminosity SN 2005cs. Because of the good compatibility of our photospheric velocities with line velocities determined for SN 2005cs, we conclude that the line velocities of SN 2020cxd are probably overestimated by up to a factor of about 3. The evolution of the line velocities of SN 2005cs compared to photospheric velocities in different explosion directions might point to intrinsic asymmetries in the SN ejecta.

Automated summary

This study re-evaluates the observational data of supernova SN 2020cxd and computes the diagnostic properties using a hydrodynamic explosion model. The results show that the model can well reproduce the light curves and emission properties, with lower explosion energy and ejecta mass compared to previous reports. The overestimated line velocities may indicate the intrinsic asymmetries in the supernova ejecta.