The Candidate Progenitor of the Type IIn SN 2010jl is Not an Optically Luminous Star

Abstract

The nature of the progenitor star (or system) for the Type IIn supernova (SN) subclass remains uncertain. While there are direct imaging constraints on the progenitors of at least four Type IIn supernovae, one of them being SN 2010jl, ambiguities remain in the interpretation of the unstable progenitors and the explosive events themselves. A blue source in pre-explosion HST/WFPC2 images falls within the 5 sigma astrometric error circle derived from post-explosion ground-based imaging of SN 2010jl. At the time the ground-based astrometry was published, however, the SN had not faded sufficiently for post-explosion HST follow-up observations to determine a more precise astrometric solution and/or confirm if the pre-explosion source had disappeared, both of which are necessary to ultimately disentangle the possible progenitor scenarios. Here we present HST/WFC3 imaging of the SN 2010jl field obtained in 2014 and 2015, when the SN had faded sufficiently to allow for new constraints on the progenitor. The SN, which is still detected in the new images, is offset by 0."099 +/- 0."008 (24 +/- 2 pc) from the underlying and extended source of emission that contributes at least partially, if not entirely, to the blue source previously suggested as the candidate progenitor in the WFPC2 data. This point alone rules out the possibility that the blue source in the pre-explosion images is the exploding star, but may instead suggest an association with a young (<5-6 Myr) cluster and still argues for a massive (>30 solar masses) progenitor. We obtain new upper limits on the flux from a single star at the SN position in the pre-explosion WFPC2 and Spitzer/IRAC images that may ultimately be used to constrain the progenitor properties.

arXiv commentSubmitted to ApJ/AAS Journals; 6 Pages; 4 figures

References in corpus (29)

• Mass Loss: Its Effect on the Evolution and Fate of High-Mass Stars
• WFPC2 Stellar Photometry with HSTphot
• The ACS Nearby Galaxy Survey Treasury
• A giant outburst two years before the core-collapse of a massive star
• SN 2006jc: A Wolf-Rayet Star Exploding in a Dense He-Rich Circumstellar Medium
• On the progenitor of SN 2005gl and the nature of Type IIn supernovae
• High Density Circumstellar Interaction in the Luminous Type IIn SN 2010jl: The first 1100 days
• Luminous Blue Variable eruptions and related transients: Diversity of progenitors and outburst properties
• Discovery of the Dust-Enshrouded Progenitor of SN 2008S with Spitzer
• Carnegie Supernova Project: Observations of Type IIn supernovae
• Coronal lines and dust formation in SN 2005ip: Not the brightest, but the hottest Type IIn supernova
• Luminous Blue Variables are Antisocial: Their Isolation Implies that they are Kicked Mass Gainers in Binary Evolution
• The Diversity of Massive Star Outbursts I: Observations of SN 2009ip, UGC 2773 OT2009-1, and Their Progenitors
• An Analytic Bolometric Light Curve Model of Interaction-Powered Supernovae and its Application to Type IIn Supernovae
• A Spitzer Survey for Dust in Type IIn Supernovae
• A Massive Progenitor of the Luminous Type IIn Supernova 2010jl
• SN 2010jl in UGC 5189: Yet another luminous type IIn supernova in a metal-poor galaxy
• Detection of an outburst one year prior to the explosion of SN 2011ht
• Near-Infrared Photometry of the Type IIn SN 2005ip: The Case for Dust Condensation
• Dead or Alive? Long-term evolution of SN 2015bh (SNhunt275)
• On the Social Traits of Luminous Blue Variables
• The Progenitor of Supernova 1993J Revisited
• Explosions Triggered by Violent Binary-Star Collisions: Application to Eta Carinae and other Eruptive Transients
• The Supernova Impostor Impostor SN 1961V: Spitzer Shows That Zwicky Was Right (Again)
• Environments of interacting transients: Impostors and type IIn supernovae
• SN 2015bh: NGC 2770's 4th supernova or a luminous blue variable on its way to a Wolf-Rayet star?
• Spitzer Space Telescope observations of the Carina Nebula: The steady march of feedback-driven star formation
• It's Alive! The Supernova Impostor 1961V
• Massive stars dying alone: The extremely remote environment of SN 2009ip

Cited by in corpus (14)

• Connecting the progenitors, pre-explosion variability, and giant outbursts of luminous blue variables with Gaia16cfr
• Constraints for the Progenitor Masses of Historic Core-Collapse Supernovae
• Delayed Shock-induced Dust Formation in the Dense Circumstellar Shell Surrounding the Type IIn Supernova SN 2010jl
• Type Ibn Supernovae May not all Come from Massive Stars
• Circumstellar interaction in supernovae in dense environments - an observational perspective
• Optical and IR observations of SN 2013L, a Type IIn Supernova surrounded by asymmetric CSM
• Measurement of the core-collapse progenitor mass distribution of the Small Magellanic Cloud
• The disappearances of six supernova progenitors
• The Type IIn Supernova 2010bt: The Explosion of a Star in Outburst
• Constraints on the Progenitor of SN 2010jl and Pre-Existing Hot Dust in its Surrounding Medium
• The infrared echo of SN2010jl and its implications for shock breakout characteristics
• A Snapshot Survey of Nearby Supernovae with the Hubble Space Telescope
• A six year image-subtraction light curve of SN 2010jl
• Giant outbursts of clumpy material preceding Type II supernova 2024qiw