A Search for the Progenitors of Two Type-Ia Supernovae in NGC 1316

Abstract

Recent evidence of a young progenitor population for many Type-Ia SNe (SNe-Ia) raises the possibility that evolved intermediate-mass progenitor stars may be detected in pre-explosion images. NGC 1316, a radio galaxy in the Fornax cluster, is a prolific producer of SNe-Ia, with four detected since 1980. We analyze Hubble Space Telescope (HST) pre-explosion images of the sites of two of the SNe-Ia that exploded in this galaxy, SN2006dd (a normal Type-Ia) and SN2006mr (likely a subluminous, 1991bg-like, SN-Ia). Astrometric positions are obtained from optical and near-IR ground-based images of the events. We find no candidate point sources at either location, and set upper limits on the flux in B, V, and I from any such progenitors. We also estimate the amount of extinction that could be present, based on analysis of the surface-brightness inhomogeneities in the HST images themselves. At the distance of NGC 1316, the limits correspond to absolute magnitudes of about -5.5, -5.4, and -6.0 mag in M_B, M_V, and M_I, respectively. Comparison to stellar evolution models argues against the presence at the SN sites, 3 years prior to the explosion, of normal stars with initial masses > 6 M_sun at the tip of their asymptotic-giant branch (AGB) evolution, young post-AGB stars that had initial masses > 4 M_sun, and post-red-giant stars of initial masses > 9 M_sun.

arXiv commentMNRAS, in press

References in corpus (55)

• Maps of Dust IR Emission for Use in Estimation of Reddening and CMBR Foregrounds
• Evolutionary tracks and isochrones for low- and intermediate-mass stars: from 0.15 to 7 M_sun, and from Z=0.0004 to 0.03
• Type Ia Supernova Explosion Models
• Improved Distances to Type Ia Supernovae with Multicolor Light Curve Shapes: MLCS2k2
• A standard stellar library for evolutionary synthesis: I. Calibration of theoretical spectra
• A standard stellar library for evolutionary synthesis: II. The M dwarf extension
• Rates and properties of type Ia supernovae as a function of mass and star-formation in their host galaxies
• The supernova rate per unit mass
• Two populations of progenitors for type Ia SNe?
• Evolution of asymptotic giant branch stars I. Updated synthetic TP-AGB models and their basic calibration
• Detection of circumstellar material in a normal Type Ia Supernova
• A Common Explosion Mechanism for Type Ia Supernovae
• The Type Ia Supernova Rate
• On the progenitor of SN 2005gl and the nature of Type IIn supernovae
• The Carnegie Supernova Project: The Low-Redshift Survey
• The rates of Type Ia Supernovae. I. Analytical Formulations
• The binary progenitor of Tycho Brahe's 1572 supernova
• Low-Metallicity Inhibition of Type Ia Supernovae and Galactic and Cosmic Chemical Evolution
• Measuring Distances and Probing the Unresolved Stellar Populations of Galaxies Using Infrared Surface Brightness Fluctuations
• High Redshift Supernova Rates
• A standard stellar library for evolutionary synthesis. III. Metallicity calibration
• Constraints on the Physics of Type Ia Supernovae from the X-Ray Spectrum of the Tycho Supernova Remnant
• Characterizing Supernova Progenitors via the Metallicities of their Host Galaxies, from Poor Dwarfs to Rich Spirals
• Constraining the Type Ia Supernova Progenitor: The Search for Hydrogen in Nebular Spectra
• Are the Models for Type Ia Supernova Progenitors Consistent with the Properties of Supernova Remnants?
• Identification of the Red Supergiant Progenitor of Supernova 2005cs: Do the Progenitors of Type II-P Supernovae Have Low Mass?
• Early and late time VLT spectroscopy of SN 2001el - progenitor constraints for a type Ia supernova
• A Deep Chandra Observation of Kepler's Supernova Remnant: A Type Ia Event with Circumstellar Interaction
• Cepheid calibration of type Ia Supernovae and the Hubble constant
• Kinematics, ages, and metallicities of star clusters in NGC 1316: A 3 Gyr old merger remnant
• Chandra X-ray Observations of NGC 1316 (Fornax A)
• Off-Center Carbon Ignition in Rapidly Rotating, Accreting Carbon-Oxygen White Dwarfs
• Spitzer Space Telescope Observations of Kepler's Supernova Remnant: A Detailed Look at the Circumstellar Dust Component
• Hubble Space Telescope imaging of the progenitor sites of six nearby core-collapse supernovae
• The star cluster system of the 3 Gyr old merger remnant NGC 1316: Clues from optical and near-infrared photometry
• Binaries discovered by the SPY project. IV. Five single-lined DA double white dwarfs
• The supernova rate in local galaxy clusters
• Carbon-Oxygen White Dwarfs Accreting CO-Rich Matter I: A Comparison Between Rotating and Non-Rotating Models
• Not Color Blind: Using Multiband Photometry to Classify Supernovae
• Supernovae in the Subaru Deep Field: An Initial Sample, and Type Ia Rate, out to Redshift 1.6
• SN 2004A: Another Type II-P Supernova with a Red Supergiant Progenitor
• Radiation-driven winds of hot luminous stars. XV. Constraints on the mass-luminosity relation of central stars of planetary nebulae
• Searching for a Companion Star of Tycho's Type Ia Supernova with Optical Spectroscopic Observations
• The Environments of Supernovae in Post-Refurbishment Hubble Space Telescope Images
• Deep Luminosity Functions of Old and Intermediate-Age Globular Clusters in NGC 1316: Evidence for Dynamical Evolution of Second-Generation Globular Clusters
• A New Determination of the High Redshift Type Ia Supernova Rates with the Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys
• On the fraction of intermediate-mass close binaries that explode as type-Ia supernovae
• Supernovae in Low-Redshift Galaxy Clusters: the Type-Ia Supernova Rate
• Why Are Radio-Galaxies Prolific Producers of Type Ia Supernovae?
• White dwarf masses derived from planetary nebulae modelling
• Calibrating Type Ia Supernovae using the Planetary Nebula Luminosity Function I. Initial Results
• Hydrogen-Accreting Carbon-Oxygen White Dwarfs of Low Mass: Thermal and Chemical Behavior of Burning Shells
• Constraints on Circumstellar Material Around the Type Ia Supernova 2007af
• On the very long term evolutionary behavior of hydrogen-accreting Low-Mass CO white dwarfs
• On near Chandrasekhar mass central stars of planetary nebulae

Cited by in corpus (36)

• Observational clues to the progenitors of Type-Ia supernovae
• Seeing the Collision of a Supernova with its Companion Star
• Constraints on the Progenitor System of the Type Ia Supernova SN 2011fe/PTF11kly
• Type-Ia supernova rates and the progenitor problem, a review
• EVLA Observations Constrain the Environment and Progenitor System of Type Ia Supernova 2011fe
• A luminous, blue progenitor system for a type-Iax supernova
• Nearby Supernova Rates from the Lick Observatory Supernova Search. IV. A Recovery Method for the Delay Time Distribution
• Type Ia Supernova Explosions in Binary Systems: A Review
• A Deep Search for Prompt Radio Emission from Thermonuclear Supernovae with the Very Large Array
• The Distance to NGC 1316 (Fornax A) From Observations of Four Type Ia Supernovae
• Constraints on the Progenitor System of the Type Ia Supernova 2014J from Pre-Explosion Hubble Space Telescope Imaging
• The Post-Merger Magnetized Evolution of White Dwarf Binaries: The Double-Degenerate Channel of Sub-Chandrasekhar Type Ia Supernovae and the Formation of Magnetized White Dwarfs
• The Galactic Gravitational wave foreground
• LOSS Revisited - I: Unraveling correlations between supernova rates and galaxy properties, as measured in a reanalysis of the Lick Observatory Supernova Search
• On the Progenitor and Supernova of the SN 2002cx-like Supernova 2008ge
• Single-Degenerate Type Ia Supernovae Are Preferentially Overluminous
• Strong Calcium Emission Indicates that the Ultraviolet-Flashing Type Ia SN 2019yvq was the Result of a Sub-Chandrasekhar Mass Double-Detonation Explosion
• The Enrichment of the Intracluster Medium
• The distance to NGC1316 (Fornax A): yet another curious case
• Upper limits on bolometric luminosities of ten type Ia supernova progenitors from Chandra observations
• Constraining The Single-Degenerate Channel of Type Ia Supernovae With Stable Iron-Group Elements in SNR 3C 397
• Helium ignition in rotating magnetized CO white dwarfs leading to fast and faint rather than classical type Ia supernovae
• Pre-Explosive Observational Properties of Type Ia Supernovae
• The Evolution of Helium Star Plus Carbon-Oxygen White Dwarf Binary Systems and Implications for Diverse Stellar Transients and Hypervelocity Stars
• SN1991bg-like supernovae are associated with old stellar populations
• SN 2011fe: A Laboratory for Testing Models of Type Ia Supernovae
• The Type Ia supernovae rate with Subaru/XMM-Newton Deep Survey
• Early X-ray emission from Type Ia supernovae originating from symbiotic progenitors or recurrent novae
• The Late-Time Light Curves of Type Ia Supernovae: Confronting Models with Observations
• Signatures of a surviving helium-star companion in Type Ia supernovae and constraints on the progenitor companion of SN 2011fe
• Type Ia supernovae in globular clusters: observational upper limits
• Insights into thermonuclear supernovae from the incomplete silicon burning process
• UV Properties of Type Ia Supernova and their Host Galaxies
• X-ray Limits on the Progenitor System of the Type Ia Supernova 2017ejb
• A Study of Magnetized White Dwarf + Helium Star Binary Evolution to Type Ia Supernovae
• A Multiwavelength Portrait of the 3C 220.3 Lensed System