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Title: Common Envelope Ejection for a Luminous Red Nova in M101

Journal Article · · The Astrophysical Journal (Online)
 [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [4];  [5];  [6]; ORCiD logo [7]; ORCiD logo [8];  [7];  [9]; ORCiD logo [3];  [2];  [10]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [10];  [11]; ORCiD logo [3];  [12] more »; ORCiD logo [13];  [6];  [6];  [14];  [2];  [8];  [8];  [15];  [6];  [6];  [11];  [16]; ORCiD logo [6] « less
  1. California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States). Cahill Center for Astrophysics; Univ. of Cambridge (United Kingdom). Inst. of Astronomy
  2. Queen's Univ., Belfast, Northern Ireland (United Kingdom). Astrophysics Research Centre, School of Mathematics and Physics
  3. California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States). Cahill Center for Astrophysics
  4. California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States). Spitzer Science Center
  5. California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States). Jet Propulsion Lab.
  6. Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF), Padova (Italy). Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova
  7. Univ. of Cambridge (United Kingdom). Inst. of Astronomy
  8. Stockholm Univ. (Sweden). Oskar Klein Center, Dept. of Astronomy
  9. Univ. of Turku (Finland). Tuorla Observatory, Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
  10. Univ. of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI (United States). Inst. for Astronomy
  11. Weizmann Inst. of Science, Rehovot (Israel). Dept. of Particle Physics and Astrophysics
  12. Univ. of Cambridge (United Kingdom). Inst. of Astronomy; Univ. of Turku (Finland). Tuorla Observatory, Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
  13. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  14. Univ. of Turku (Finland). Tuorla Observatory, Dept. of Physics and Astronomy; Nordic Optical Telescope, Santa Cruz de La Palma (Spain)
  15. Queen's Univ., Belfast, Northern Ireland (United Kingdom). Astrophysics Research Centre, School of Mathematics and Physics; Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF), Padova (Italy). Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova
  16. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

We present the results of optical, near-infrared, and mid-infrared observations of M101 OT2015-1 (PSN J14021678+5426205), a luminous red transient in the Pinwheel galaxy (M101), spanning a total of 16 years. The light curve showed two distinct peaks with absolute magnitudes Mr ≤ -12.4 and Mr ~ -12, on 2014 November 11 and 2015 February 17, respectively. The spectral energy distributions during the second maximum show a cool outburst temperature of ≈3700 K and low expansion velocities (≈-300 km s-1) for the H I, Ca II, Ba II, and K I lines. From archival data spanning 15-8 years before the outburst, we find a single source consistent with the optically discovered transient, which we attribute to being the progenitor; it has properties consistent with being an F-type yellow supergiant with L ~8.7×104 L⊙, Teff ≈ 7000 K, and an estimated mass of M1 = 18 ± 1 M⊙ . This star has likely just finished the H-burning phase in the core, started expanding, and is now crossing the Hertzsprung gap. Based on the combination of observed properties, we argue that the progenitor is a binary system, with the more evolved system overfilling the Roche lobe. Comparison with binary evolution mode ls suggests that the outburst was an extremely rare phenomenon, likely associated with the ejection of the common envelope of a massive star. Finally, the initial mass of the primary fills the gap between the merger candidates V838 Mon (5-10 M⊙) and NGC 4490-OT (30M⊙).

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC); European Union (EU); National Science Foundation (NSF); National Research Council (NRC) of Canada
DOE Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231; 264895; 320360; 1545949
OSTI ID:
1393606
Journal Information:
The Astrophysical Journal (Online), Vol. 834, Issue 2; ISSN 1538-4357
Publisher:
Institute of Physics (IOP)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Presto-Color: A Photometric Survey Cadence for Explosive Physics and Fast Transients journal April 2019
Formation scenario of the progenitor of iPTF13bvn revisited journal January 2017
Shock-powered light curves of luminous red novae as signatures of pre-dynamical mass-loss in stellar mergers journal July 2017
The search for failed supernovae with the Large Binocular Telescope: confirmation of a disappearing star journal April 2017
Extending common envelope simulations from Roche lobe overflow to the nebular phase journal December 2018
The effect of binding energy and resolution in simulations of the common envelope binary interaction journal March 2018
Luminous Red Novae: population models and future prospects journal January 2020
ASASSN-13db 2014–2017 Eruption as an Intermediate Luminosity Optical Transient journal December 2019
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A Detailed Observational Analysis of V1324 Sco, the Most Gamma-Ray-luminous Classical Nova to Date journal January 2018
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SPIRITS 16tn in NGC 3556: A Heavily Obscured and Low-luminosity Supernova at 8.8 Mpc journal August 2018
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The SPIRITS Sample of Luminous Infrared Transients: Uncovering Hidden Supernovae and Dusty Stellar Outbursts in Nearby Galaxies journal November 2019
Discovery of an Intermediate-luminosity Red Transient in M51 and Its Likely Dust-obscured, Infrared-variable Progenitor journal July 2019
Extending common envelope simulations from Roche lobe overflow to the nebular phase text January 2019
A Detailed Observational Analysis of V1324 Sco, the Most Gamma-Ray Luminous Classical Nova to Date text January 2017
Shock-powered light curves of luminous red novae as signatures of pre-dynamical mass loss in stellar mergers text January 2017
The effect of binding energy and resolution in simulations of the common envelope binary interaction text January 2017
iPTF Survey for Cool Transients text January 2017
SPIRITS 16tn in NGC 3556: A heavily obscured and low-luminosity supernova at 8.8 Mpc text January 2018
Presto-Color: A Photometric Survey Cadence for Explosive Physics & Fast Transients text January 2018
Discovery of an intermediate-luminosity red transient in M51 and its likely dust-obscured, infrared-variable progenitor text January 2019
Luminous Red Novae: Stellar Mergers or Giant Eruptions? text January 2019
Populations of stellar mass Black holes from binary systems text January 2019
ASASSN-13db 2014-2017 Eruption as an Intermediate Luminosity Optical Transient preprint January 2019

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Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
binaries close
novae
cataclysmic variables
stars individual (M101 OT2015-1
PSN J14021678 +5426205)
stars massive
stars winds
outflows