SPECTROSCOPIC OBSERVATIONS OF SN 2012fr: A LUMINOUS, NORMAL TYPE Ia SUPERNOVA WITH EARLY HIGH-VELOCITY FEATURES AND A LATE VELOCITY PLATEAU

Childress, M. J.; Scalzo, R. A.; Sim, S. A.; Tucker, B. E.; Yuan, F.; Schmidt, B. P.; Cenko, S. B.; Silverman, J. M.; Contreras, C.; Hsiao, E. Y.; Phillips, M.; Morrell, N.; Jha, S. W.; McCully, C.; Filippenko, A. V.; Anderson, J. P.; Benetti, S.; Bufano, F.; de Jaeger, T.; Forster, F.; Gal-Yam, A.; Le Guillou, L.; Maguire, K.; Maund, J.; Mazzali, P. A.; Pignata, G.; Smartt, S.; Spyromilio, J.; Sullivan, M.; Taddia, F.; Valenti, S.; Bayliss, D. D. R.; Bessell, M.; Blanc, G. A.; Carson, D. J.; Clubb, K. I.; de Burgh-Day, C.; Desjardins, T. D.; Fang, J. J.; Fox, O. D.; Gates, E. L.; Ho, I. -T.; Keller, S.; Kelly, P. L.; Lidman, C.; Loaring, N. S.; Mould, J. R.; Owers, M.; Ozbilgen, S.; Pei, L.; Pickering, T.; Pracy, M. B.; Rich, J. A.; Schaefer, B. E.; Scott, N.; Stritzinger, M.; Vogt, F. P. A.; Zhou, G.
2013
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL
DOI
10.1088/0004-637X/770/1/29
We present 65 optical spectra of the Type Ia SN 2012fr, 33 of which were obtained before maximum light. At early times, SN 2012fr shows clear evidence of a high-velocity feature (HVF) in the Si lambda 6355 line that can be cleanly decoupled from the lower velocity "photospheric" component. This Si lambda 6355 HVF fades by phase - 5; subsequently, the photospheric component exhibits a very narrow velocity width and remains at a nearly constant velocity of similar to 12,000 km s(-1) until at least five weeks after maximum brightness. The Ca II infrared triplet exhibits similar evidence for both a photospheric component at v approximate to 12,000 km s(-1) with narrow line width and long velocity plateau, as well as an HVF beginning at v approximate to 31,000 km s(-1) two weeks before maximum. SN 2012fr resides on the border between the "shallow silicon" and "core-normal" subclasses in the Branch et al. classification scheme, and on the border between normal and high-velocity Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) in the Wang et al. system. Though it is a clear member of the "low velocity gradient" group of SNe Ia and exhibits a very slow light-curve decline, it shows key dissimilarities with the overluminous SN 1991T or SN 1999aa subclasses of SNe Ia. SN 2012fr represents a well-observed SN Ia at the luminous end of the normal SN Ia distribution and a key transitional event between nominal spectroscopic subclasses of SNe Ia.