Light Echoes Around Supernova 2014J in M82 - From Near and Far


  Yi Yang [1,2]  ,  Lifan Wang [2]  
[1] Weizmann Institue of Science
[2] Texas A&M University

We present multiple-epoch measurements of the size and surface brightness of the light echoes from the supernova (SN) 2014J in the nearby starburst galaxy M82 with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Linear polarimetry of the SN 2014J has also been acquired. The images reveal the temporal evolution of at least two distinct light-echo components. The wavelength dependence of scattering measured in different dust components suggests that these two dust components favor different extinction law (Rv), thus indicating different grain sizes. We consider systematically steeper extinction laws towards Type Ia SNe do not have to represent the average behavior of the extinction law in the host galaxy. Apart from the resolved light echoes, the polarization of the SN 2014J point source measured at day 277 shows conspicuous deviations from other epochs and this can be identified as due to at least 10-6 solar mass of dust located at a distance of ~5×1017 cm away from the SN. The presence of this circumstellar dust may set strong constraints on the progenitor system that led to the explosion of SN 2014J.