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Optical Signatures of Circumstellar Interaction in Type IIP Supernovae

We propose new diagnostics for circumstellar interaction in Type IIP supernovae by the detection of high velocity (HV) absorption features in Halpha and He I 10830 A lines during the photospheric stage. To demonstrate the method, we compute the ionization and excitation of H and He in supernova ejecta taking into account time-dependent effects and X-ray irradiation. We find that the interaction with a typical red supergiant wind should result in the enhanced excitation of the outer layers of unshocked ejecta and the emergence of corresponding HV absorption, i.e. a depression in the blue absorption wing of Halpha and a pronounced absorption of He I 10830 A at a radial velocity of about -10,000 km/s. We identify HV absorption in Halpha and He I 10830 A lines of SN 1999em and in Halpha of SN 2004dj as being due to this effect. The derived mass loss rate is close to 10^{-6} Msun/yr for both supernovae, assuming a wind velocity 10 km/s. We argue that, in addition to the HV absorption formed in the unshocked ejecta, spectra of SN 2004dj and SN 1999em show a HV notch feature that is formed in the cool dense shell (CDS) modified by the Rayleigh-Taylor instability. The CDS results from both shock breakout and radiative cooling of gas that has passed through the reverse shock wave. The notch becomes dominant in the HV absorption during the late photospheric phase, ~60 d. The wind density deduced from the velocity of the CDS is consistent with the wind density found from the HV absorption produced by unshocked ejecta.