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:
European Research Council (ERC); National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1812343
Journal Information:
The Astrophysical Journal (Online), Journal Name: The Astrophysical Journal (Online) Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 811; ISSN 1538-4357
Publisher:
IOP PublishingCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (11)

Observational and Physical Classification of Supernovae book December 2016
PTF12os and iPTF13bvn: Two stripped-envelope supernovae from low-mass progenitors in NGC 5806⋆ journal September 2016
Oxygen and helium in stripped-envelope supernovae journal October 2018
A Six-year Image-subtraction Light Curve of SN 2010jl journal April 2019
The C 12 ( α , γ ) O 16 reaction and its implications for stellar helium burning journal September 2017
PTF13efv—AN OUTBURST 500 DAYS PRIOR TO THE SNHUNT 275 EXPLOSION AND ITS RADIATIVE EFFICIENCY journal June 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
PTF 13efv - An outburst 500 days prior to the SNHunt 275 explosion and its radiative efficiency text January 2016
PTF12os and iPTF13bvn. Two stripped-envelope supernovae from low-mass progenitors in NGC 5806 text January 2016
Progenitors of Type IIb Supernovae: I. Evolutionary Pathways and Rates text January 2018

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