Program: GS-2022B-Q-113

Title:Rapid Spectroscopy of Infant Supernovae and Rapidly-Evolving Transients Discovered by the KMTNet Supernova Program
PI:Yuan Qi Ni
Co-I(s): Maria Drout, Dae-Sik Moon, Matthew Leung

Abstract

We propose to conduct rapid ToO spectroscopic observations of infant (i.e. a few hours to a few days post-explosion) supernovae (SNe) and rapidly-evolving transients discovered by the KMTNet Supernova Program (KSP). Observations during early phases can provide crucial insights into both their explosion mechanisms and progenitor systems, with detailed behavior depending on the progenitor radius, envelope structure, composition, mixing of radioactive elements, non-spherical behavior, as well as interactions with circumstellar material and/or binary companions. KSP is capable of effectively probing these processes by providing continuous, high-cadence, multi-band optical light curves, and has demonstrated the ability to trigger prompt spectroscopy within ~1 day after first detection. Follow-up spectroscopic observations of the infant phase can critically enhance our understanding of how SNe explode and the enigmatic nature of rapidly-evolving transients. We request 2 ``rapid’’ ToO triggers in order to obtain prompt GMOS-S spectroscopy of ~2 infant SNe and rapidly-evolving transients up to 6 magnitudes below their peak luminosity.