RED AND DEAD: THE PROGENITOR OF SN 2012aw IN M95

Journal Article · Thu Nov 01 04:00:00 EDT 2012 · Astrophysical Journal Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/759/1/L13· OSTI ID:22078462

Fraser, M; Maund, J R; Smartt, S J; Inserra, C; Kotak, R; Reilly, E ^[1]; Botticella, M -T; Dall'Ora, M ^[2]; Tomasella, L; Benetti, S; Ciroi, S; Ochner, P; Pastorello, A; Valenti, S ^[3]; Eldridge, J J ^[4]; Ergon, M; Sollerman, J; Taddia, F ^[5]; Mattila, S ^[6]; Stephens, A ^[7]

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1. School of Mathematics and Physics, Queens University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN (United Kingdom)
2. INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, Salita Moiariello 16, I-80131 Napoli (Italy)
3. INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, vicolo dell Osservatorio 5, I-35122 Padova (Italy)
4. Department of Physics, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland (New Zealand)
5. Oskar Klein Centre, Department of Astronomy, AlbaNova, Stockholm University, SE-10691 Stockholm (Sweden)
6. Tuorla Observatory, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Turku, Vaeisaelaentie 20, FI-21500 Piikkioe (Finland)
7. Gemini Observatory, 670 North Aohoku Place, Hilo, HI 96720 (United States)

Core-collapse supernovae (SNe) are the spectacular finale to massive stellar evolution. In this Letter, we identify a progenitor for the nearby core-collapse SN 2012aw in both ground-based near-infrared and space-based optical pre-explosion imaging. The SN itself appears to be a normal Type II Plateau event, reaching a bolometric luminosity of 10{sup 42} erg s{sup -1} and photospheric velocities of {approx}11,000 km s{sup -1} from the position of the H{beta} P-Cygni minimum in the early SN spectra. We use an adaptive optics image to show that the SN is coincident to within 27 mas with a faint, red source in pre-explosion HST+WFPC2, VLT+ISAAC, and NTT+SOFI images. The source has magnitudes F555W = 26.70 {+-} 0.06, F814W = 23.39 {+-} 0.02, J = 21.1 {+-} 0.2, K = 19.1 {+-} 0.4, which, when compared to a grid of stellar models, best matches a red supergiant. Interestingly, the spectral energy distribution of the progenitor also implies an extinction of A{sub V} > 1.2 mag, whereas the SN itself does not appear to be significantly extinguished. We interpret this as evidence for the destruction of dust in the SN explosion. The progenitor candidate has a luminosity between 5.0 and 5.6 log L/L{sub Sun }, corresponding to a zero-age main-sequence mass between 14 and 26 M{sub Sun} (depending on A{sub V} ), which would make this one of the most massive progenitors found for a core-collapse SN to date.

• OSTI ID: 22078462
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal Letters, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Letters Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 759; ISSN 2041-8205
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
BOLOMETERS
COSMIC DUST
ENERGY SPECTRA
EXPLOSIONS
IMAGES
LUMINOSITY
PHOTOSPHERE
STAR EVOLUTION
SUPERNOVAE