EVIDENCE FOR PRE-EXISTING DUST IN THE BRIGHT TYPE IIn SN 2010jl
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Louisiana State University, 202 Nicholson Hall, Baton Rouge, LA 70803 (United States)
SN 2010jl was an extremely bright, Type IIn supernova (SN) which showed a significant infrared (IR) excess no later than 90 days after explosion. We have obtained Spitzer 3.6 and 4.5 {mu}m and JHK observations of SN 2010jl {approx}90 days post-explosion. Little to no reddening in the host galaxy indicated that the circumstellar material lost from the progenitor must lie in a torus inclined out of the plane of the sky. The likely cause of the high mid-IR flux is the reprocessing of the initial flash of the SN by pre-existing circumstellar dust. Using a three-dimensional Monte Carlo radiative-transfer code, we have estimated that between 0.03 and 0.35 M{sub sun} of dust exists in a circumstellar torus around the SN located 6 x 10{sup 17} cm away from the SN and inclined between 60 deg. and 80 deg. to the plane of the sky. On day 90, we are only seeing the illumination of approximately 5% of this torus, and expect to see an elevated IR flux from this material up until day {approx} 450. It is likely this dust was created in a luminous blue variable (LBV) like mass-loss event of more than 3 M{sub sun}, which is large but consistent with other LBV progenitors such as {eta} Carinae.
- OSTI ID:
- 21583026
- Journal Information:
- Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online), Vol. 142, Issue 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0004-6256/142/2/45; ISSN 1538-3881
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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