Program: GS-2018B-Q-121

Title:Spectroscopy of infant supernovae and peculiar transients discovered by the KMTNet Supernova Search
PI:Youngdae Lee
Co-I(s): Jae Joon Lee, Dae-Sik Moon, Sang Chul Kim, Hong Soo Park

Abstract

We propose to conduct target-of-opportunity optical spectroscopic follow-up observations of infant (i.e. a few hours to days after the explosion) supernovae (SNe) and transients discovered by our KMTNet Supernova Program, which is optimized for real-time detection of such events by taking advantage of its 24-hour continuous sky coverage. These early spectra contain critical information for understanding several important questions, including explosion mechanisms, progenitor structure, interactions with the circumstellar material and/or binary companions. We plan to use Gemini-S/GMOS to obtain spectroscopy of around 5 infant SNe, which are 4-6 magnitudes below their peak luminosity, in addition to 1-2 peculiar, rapidly-evolving transients. These spectra will allow us to estimate redshifts, ejecta velocities, SN/transient types, abundance and other parameters that are essential in understanding their astrophysical conditions.

Publications using this program's data