Swift XRT Detection of Supernova 2010jr in X-Rays
ATel #3045; S. Immler (NASA/CRESST/GSFC), B. R. Russell (U of Maryland), P. W.A. Roming (SWRI), and D. Pooley (Eureka Scientific/UT Austin) on behalf of the Swift satellite team
on 20 Nov 2010; 04:31 UT
Credential Certification: Stefan Immler (immler@milkyway.gsfc.nasa.gov)
Subjects: X-ray, Supernovae
Using 9.0 ks of Swift X-Ray Telescope (XRT) observations of the Type IIb SN 2010jr in ESO 362-18 (CBET #2545, 2548, ATel #3037), obtained between 2010-11-15.64 and 2010-11-19.50, an X-ray point-source is detected, consistent with the optical position of the SN, with a 5.5-sigma significance of source detection. The PSF, dead-time, and vignetting corrected XRT net count rate is (1.7+/-0.3)E-02 cts/s, corresponding to an unabsorbed (0.2-10 keV band) X-ray flux of (7.8+/-1.4)E-13 erg/cm/cm/s and a luminosity of (2.3+/-0.4)E41 erg/s for an adopted thermal plasma spectrum with a temperature of kT = 10 keV, a Galactic foreground column density of N_H = 1.76E+20 (Dickey & Lockman, 1990, ARAA 28) and a distance of 50 Mpc (NED).
We note that SN 2010jr is about two orders of magnitude brighter than the Type IIb SN 1993J in X-rays at a similar epoch (e.g., Zimmermann et al., 1994, Nature 367, 621; Immler, Aschenbach & Wang, 2001, ApJ 554, 202; Chandra et al. 2009, ApJ 699, 388), indicating substantial interaction of the outgoing SN shock with dense circumstellar matter.