Detecting the progenitors of core-collapse supernovae

Details Detecting the progenitors of core-collapse supernovae Detecting the progenitors of core-collapse supernovae

Jul 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006hst..prop10803s&link_type=abstract

HST Proposal ID #10803. Cycle 15

Physics

Scientific paper

Modern supernova searches in the nearby Universe are discovering large numbers of SNe which have massive star progenitors Types II, Ib and Ic. The extensive HST image archive within ~20Mpc enables the indvidual bright stellar content of starforming galaxies to be resolved. As massive, evolved stars are the most luminous single objects in a galaxy, the progenitors of core-collapse SNe are often directly detectable on pre-explosion archive images. We have discovered three progenitors of recent type II-Plateau SNe, showing them to be red supergiants of 8-12 solar masses. This is the first direct evidence that red supergiants do indeed produce normal type II explosions. We have set upper mass limits on a further 7 progenitor stars and suggest that faint type II supernovae are unlikely to come from the collapse of very massive stars which form black holes. These discoveries are providing strong constraints on theoretical models of pre-supernova evolution, explosion models and the origin of the supernova types. We request time to continue this successful project and require ACS observations of future SNe which are discovered in galaxies closer than 20Mpc and which have pre-explosion HST archive images available. This will allow the SNe to be precisely positioned on the pre-explosion images. We have set a final goal for this project of determining masses and types, or setting restrictive mass-limits, for 30 supernovae over the remainder of HST's project life.

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