X-ray study on the core collapse supernova 2008ax using XMM-Newton and Swift/XRT

Abstract

Abstract We studied the x-ray evolution of the core collapse, Type IIb, supernova SN 2008ax. In addition to the four Swift/XRT observations previously published, we included, for the first time, two observations from XMM-NEWTON to our analysis that have not been published before. By focusing on the early observations of the SN 2008ax, we were able to explore the time evolution of both x-ray luminosity (Lx) and temperature (Tx) during the radiative phase. The analysis showed that the evolution of Lx and Tx can be expressed as a power law as Lx ∝ t −0.87 and Tx ∝ t −0.46, respectively. Based on the observed x-ray luminosity, we estimated the mass-loss rate ( M ̇ ) for the progenitor star to be approximately 0.64 ± 0.15 × 10−5 M⊙ yr −1, for a wind velocity of 10 km s−1. This finding is in good agreement with the previous studies.