INVERSE COMPTON X-RAY EMISSION FROM SUPERNOVAE WITH COMPACT PROGENITORS: APPLICATION TO SN2011fe

We present a generalized analytic formalism for the inverse Compton X-ray emission from hydrogen-poor supernovae and apply this framework to SN 2011fe using Swift X-Ray Telescope (XRT), UVOT, and Chandra observations. We characterize the optical properties of SN 2011fe in the Swift bands and find them to be broadly consistent with a 'normal' SN Ia, however, no X-ray source is detected by either XRT or Chandra. We constrain the progenitor system mass-loss rate M-dot < 2 x 10-9 M☉yr-1 (3σ c.l.) for wind velocity vw = 100 km s–1. Our result rules out symbiotic binary progenitors for SN 2011fe and argues against Roche lobe overflowing subgiants and main-sequence secondary stars if ∼> 1% of the transferred mass is lost at the Lagrangian points. Regardless of the density profile, the X-ray non-detections are suggestive of a clean environment (nCSM < 150 cm–3) for 2 × 1015 ∼< R ∼< 5 × 1016 cm around the progenitor site. This is either consistent with the bulk of material being confined within the binary system or with a significant delay between mass loss and supernova explosion. We furthermore combine X-ray and radio limits from Chomiuk et al. to constrain the post-shock energy density in magnetic fields. Finally, we searched for the shock breakout pulse using gamma-ray observations from the Interplanetary Network and find no compelling evidence for a supernova-associated burst. Based on the compact radius of the progenitor star we estimate that the shock breakout pulse was likely not detectable by current satellites.