Radiative Transfer Modeling of Stripped-envelope Supernovae. I. A Grid for Ejecta Parameter Inference

Abstract We present 1800 multiwavelength Type Ib/c supernovae light-curve models obtained by running the radiation transport code Sedona and varying the mass distribution, velocity profile, and abundance ejecta profiles of helium star progenitors. To create a flexible but physically informed grid, we use autoencoders to construct a representation of ejecta profiles derived from stellar evolution models. We present simulated nearest-neighbor multiband light-curve matches to SN 1994I, SN 2007gr, and iPTF13bvn to demonstrate that realistic light curves can be generated in our grid. We show that the ejecta velocity distribution, in particular, strongly influences the light curve, while variation in 56 Ni mixing alone has a limited impact on the bolometric light curve, even in extreme and unphysical mixing schemes; however, mixing can modestly impact color evolution. Finally, we show that the 56 Ni mass, ejecta mass, and both the magnitude and structure of ejecta velocity distribution can be inferred from the multiband light curves, enabling improved inference over widely used semianalytical models.