The Progenitor of Supernova 2011dh Has Vanished

Abstract

We conducted Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Snapshot observations of the Type IIb Supernova (SN) 2011dh in M51 at an age of ~641 days with the Wide Field Camera 3. We find that the yellow supergiant star, clearly detected in pre-SN HST images, has disappeared, implying that this star was almost certainly the progenitor of the SN. Interpretation of the early-time SN data which led to the inference of a compact nature for the progenitor, and to the expected survival of this yellow supergiant, is now clearly incorrect. We also present ground-based UBVRI light curves obtained with the Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope (KAIT) at Lick Observatory up to SN age ~70 days. From the light-curve shape including the very late-time HST data, and from recent interacting binary models for SN 2011dh, we estimate that a putative surviving companion star to the now deceased yellow supergiant could be detectable by late 2013, especially in the ultraviolet. No obvious light echoes are detectable yet in the SN environment.

6 pages, new versions of the 3 figures, improved U-band SN photometry, to appear in ApJ Letters

References in corpus (5)

• Optical and near-infrared observations of SN 2011dh - The first 100 days
• The type IIb SN 2008ax: spectral and light curve evolution
• A Late-Time View of the Progenitors of Five Type IIP Supernovae
• Type IIb Supernova SN 2011dh: Spectra and Photometry from the Ultraviolet to the Near-Infrared
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