skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Search for Precursor Eruptions Among Type IIB Supernovae

Journal Article · · The Astrophysical Journal (Online)
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [3];  [4];  [5]; ORCiD logo [6]; ORCiD logo [7];  [8]; ORCiD logo [4]; ORCiD logo [9];  [6]; ORCiD logo [10];  [2];  [4];  [4]
  1. Weizmann Inst. of Science, Rehovot (Israel); Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Zeuthen (Germany)
  2. Weizmann Inst. of Science, Rehovot (Israel)
  3. Univ. of Southampton (United Kingdom)
  4. California Institute of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States)
  5. Inst. for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ (United States); Hebrew Univ. of Jerusalem (Israel)
  6. Stockholm Univ. (Sweden)
  7. Carnegie Inst. for Science, Pasadena, CA (United States)
  8. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
  9. Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network, Goleta, CA (United States); Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
  10. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

The progenitor stars of several Type IIb supernovae (SNe) show indications of extended hydrogen envelopes. These envelopes might be the outcome of luminous energetic pre-explosion events, so-called precursor eruptions. We use the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) pre-explosion observations of a sample of 27 nearby SNe IIb to look for such precursors during the final years prior to the SN explosion. No precursors are found when combining the observations in 15-day bins, and we calculate the absolute-magnitude-dependent upper limit on the precursor rate. At the 90% confidence level, SNe IIb have on average <0.86 precursors as bright as an absolute R-band magnitude of -14 in the final 3.5 years before the explosion and <0.56 events over the final year. In contrast, precursors among SNe IIn have a 5 times higher rate. The kinetic energy required to unbind a low-mass stellar envelope is comparable to the radiated energy of a few-weeks-long precursor that would be detectable for the closest SNe in our sample. Therefore, mass ejections, if they are common in such SNe, are radiatively inefficient or have durations longer than months. Indeed, when using 60-day bins, a faint precursor candidate is detected prior to SN 2012cs (~2% false-alarm probability). We also report the detection of the progenitor of SN 2011dh that does not show detectable variability over the final two years before the explosion. The suggested progenitor of SN 2012P is still present, and hence is likely a compact star cluster or an unrelated object.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR); European Research Council (ERC); National Science Foundation (NSF)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231; 307260; 615929; AST-1211916
OSTI ID:
1812343
Journal Information:
The Astrophysical Journal (Online), Vol. 811, Issue 2; ISSN 1538-4357
Publisher:
IOP PublishingCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 21 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (59)

Optical Spectra of Supernovae journal September 1997
A giant outburst two years before the core-collapse of a massive star journal June 2007
Maps of Dust Infrared Emission for Use in Estimation of Reddening and Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation Foregrounds journal June 1998
Exploring the Optical Transient Sky with the Palomar Transient Factory
  • Rau, Arne; Kulkarni, Shrinivas R.; Law, Nicholas M.
  • Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Vol. 121, Issue 886 https://doi.org/10.1086/605911
journal December 2009
Presupernova Evolution of Massive Single and Binary Stars journal September 2012
Core-Collapse Supernovae from the Palomar Transient Factory: Indications for a Different Population in Dwarf Galaxies journal September 2010
Setting the Stage for Circumstellar Interaction in Core-Collapse Supernovae. ii. Wave-Driven mass loss in Supernova Progenitors journal December 2013
SN 2006jc: A Wolf-Rayet Star Exploding in a Dense He-rich Circumstellar Medium journal February 2007
The Palomar Transient Factory: System Overview, Performance, and First Results
  • Law, Nicholas M.; Kulkarni, Shrinivas R.; Dekany, Richard G.
  • Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Vol. 121, Issue 886 https://doi.org/10.1086/648598
journal December 2009
An outburst from a massive star 40 days before a supernova explosion journal February 2013
A Method for Optimal Image Subtraction journal August 1998
Supernova 1987K - Type II in youth, type Ib in old age journal December 1988
The La Silla-QUEST Low Redshift Supernova Survey
  • Baltay, Charles; Rabinowitz, David; Hadjiyska, Elena
  • Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Vol. 125, Issue 928 https://doi.org/10.1086/671198
journal June 2013
The Lick Observatory Supernova Search conference January 2000
The unprecedented 2012 outburst of SN 2009ip: a luminous blue variable star becomes a true supernova journal February 2013
Design of the Pan-STARRS telescopes journal October 2004
SN 2013df, a double-peaked IIb supernova from a compact progenitor and an extended H envelope journal October 2014
Ultraviolet Spectroscopy of type iib Supernovae: Diversity and the Impact of Circumstellar Material journal April 2015
DISCOVERY OF VARIABILITY OF THE PROGENITOR OF SN 2011dh IN M 51 USING THE LARGE BINOCULAR TELESCOPE journal February 2012
Early Observations of SN 1993J in M81 at McDonald Observatory journal November 1993
Toward Realistic Progenitors of Core-Collapse Supernovae journal May 2011
The relationship between infrared, optical, and ultraviolet extinction journal October 1989
TYPE IIb SUPERNOVA SN 2011dh: SPECTRA AND PHOTOMETRY FROM THE ULTRAVIOLET TO THE NEAR-INFRARED journal January 2014
Confidence limits for small numbers of events in astrophysical data journal April 1986
The Palomar Transient Factory Photometric Calibration journal January 2012
A MULTI-WAVELENGTH INVESTIGATION OF THE RADIO-LOUD SUPERNOVA PTF11qcj AND ITS CIRCUMSTELLAR ENVIRONMENT journal January 2014
Optical and near-infrared observations of SN 2011dh – The first 100 days journal February 2014
TYPE IIb SUPERNOVAE WITH COMPACT AND EXTENDED PROGENITORS journal February 2010
A Wolf–Rayet-like progenitor of SN 2013cu from spectral observations of a stellar wind journal May 2014
The theory of steady-state super-Eddington winds and its application to novae journal September 2001
SN 1993J: A Type IIb supernova journal July 1994
Common Envelope Evolution Leading to Supernovae with Dense Interaction journal May 2012
Turbulent Cells in Stars: Fluctuations in Kinetic Energy and Luminosity journal October 2011
The Palomar Transient Factory photometric catalog 1.0 journal August 2012
First Results from the Catalina Real-Time Transient Survey journal April 2009
The ``Type IIb'' Supernova 1993J in M81: A Close Relative of Type Ib Supernovae journal September 1993
An early and comprehensive millimetre and centimetre wave and X-ray study of SN 2011dh: a non-equipartition blast wave expanding into a massive stellar wind journal September 2013
WISeREP—An Interactive Supernova Data Repository journal July 2012
A BINARY PROGENITOR FOR THE TYPE IIb SUPERNOVA 2011dh IN M51 journal December 2012
Instabilities in Highly Evolved Stellar Models journal April 1967
THE TYPE IIb SUPERNOVA 2011dh FROM A SUPERGIANT PROGENITOR journal August 2012
THE YELLOW SUPERGIANT PROGENITOR OF THE TYPE II SUPERNOVA 2011dh IN M51 journal September 2011
Determining the Type, Redshift, and Age of a Supernova Spectrum journal September 2007
The peculiar type II supernova 1993J in M81: Transition to the nebular phase journal December 1994
THE TRANSITIONAL STRIPPED-ENVELOPE SN 2008ax: SPECTRAL EVOLUTION AND EVIDENCE FOR LARGE ASPHERICITY journal September 2011
A Modified Magnitude System that Produces Well-Behaved Magnitudes, Colors, and Errors Even for Low Signal-to-Noise Ratio Measurements journal September 1999
THE PROGENITOR OF SUPERNOVA 2011dh/PTF11eon IN MESSIER 51 journal October 2011
DETECTION OF AN OUTBURST ONE YEAR PRIOR TO THE EXPLOSION OF SN 2011ht journal November 2013
NINE-YEAR WILKINSON MICROWAVE ANISOTROPY PROBE ( WMAP ) OBSERVATIONS: COSMOLOGICAL PARAMETER RESULTS journal September 2013
Gemini Spectroscopy of Supernovae from the Supernova Legacy Survey: Improving High‐Redshift Supernova Selection and Classification journal December 2005
Supernovae with two Peaks in the Optical Light Curve and the Signature of Progenitors with Low-Mass Extended Envelopes journal June 2014
IPAC Image Processing and Data Archiving for the Palomar Transient Factory journal July 2014
PRECURSORS PRIOR TO TYPE IIn SUPERNOVA EXPLOSIONS ARE COMMON: PRECURSOR RATES, PROPERTIES, AND CORRELATIONS journal June 2014
A blue Point Source at the Location of Supernova 2011dh journal September 2014
SN 2011dh: DISCOVERY OF A TYPE IIb SUPERNOVA FROM A COMPACT PROGENITOR IN THE NEARBY GALAXY M51 journal November 2011
The Jackknife, the Bootstrap and Other Resampling Plans book January 1982
THE TYPE IIb SUPERNOVA 2013df AND ITS COOL SUPERGIANT PROGENITOR journal January 2014
Wave-driven mass loss in the last year of stellar evolution: setting the stage for the most luminous core-collapse supernovae: Wave-Driven Mass loss journal May 2012
A new algorithm for difference image analysis journal May 2008

Cited By (8)

Oxygen and helium in stripped-envelope supernovae journal October 2018
PTF12os and iPTF13bvn. Two stripped-envelope supernovae from low-mass progenitors in NGC 5806 text January 2016
PTF 13efv - An outburst 500 days prior to the SNHunt 275 explosion and its radiative efficiency text January 2016
Progenitors of Type IIb Supernovae: I. Evolutionary Pathways and Rates text January 2018
A Six-year Image-subtraction Light Curve of SN 2010jl journal April 2019
PTF12os and iPTF13bvn: Two stripped-envelope supernovae from low-mass progenitors in NGC 5806⋆ journal September 2016
Ejection of the Massive Hydrogen-rich Envelope Timed with the Collapse of the Stripped SN 2014C journal January 2017
Progenitors of Type IIb Supernovae. I. Evolutionary Pathways and Rates journal November 2019

Linked Research (1)

Similar Records

SEARCH FOR PRECURSOR ERUPTIONS AMONG TYPE IIB SUPERNOVAE
Journal Article · Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Astrophysical Journal · OSTI ID:1812343
+13 more
PTF12os and iPTF13bvn: Two stripped-envelope supernovae from low-mass progenitors in NGC 5806
Journal Article · Thu Sep 22 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Astronomy and Astrophysics · OSTI ID:1812343
+19 more
PTF13efv—An Outburst 500 Days Prior to the SNHunt 275 Explosion and its Radiative Efficiency
Journal Article · Fri Jun 03 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · The Astrophysical Journal (Online) · OSTI ID:1812343
+15 more

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
stars
mass-loss
supernovae
SN2011dh
SN2012P
SN2012cs
NS2013bb