The origin of the late-time luminosity of supernova 2011dh

Abstract

Due to the small amount of hydrogen ($\le 0.1M_{\odot }$) remaining on the surface of their progenitors, Type IIb supernovae are sensitive probes of the mass loss processes of massive stars towards the ends of their lives, including the role of binarity. We report late-time Hubble Space Telescope observations of SN 2011dh in M51, and a brief period of re-brightening and plateau in the photometric light curve, from $1.8$ to $6.2$ years after the explosion. These observations exclude the role of circumstellar interaction, however a slow rotating magnetar, a significant quantity of radioactive elements or a light echo could be responsible for the late-time luminosity observed at $t>1000\mathrm{d}$. If the late-time light curve is powered by the decay of radioactive elements, SN~2011dh is required to have produced $\sim 2.6\times 10^{-3}{M}_{\odot }$ of ${}^{44}\mathrm{Ti}$, which is significantly in excess of the amount inferred from earlier nebular spectra of SN 2011dh itself or measured in the Cas A SN remnant. The evolution of the brightness and the colour of the late-time light curve also supports the role of a light echo originating from dust with a preferred geometry of a disk of extent $\sim 1.8$ to $\sim 2.7\mathrm{pc}$ from the SN, consistent with a wind-blown bubble. Accounting for the long term photometric evolution due to a light echo, the flux contribution from a surviving binary companion at ultraviolet wavelengths can be isolated and corresponds to a star of $\sim 9-10M_{\odot }$.

16 pages, 9 figures, ApJ accepted

References in corpus (13)

• Dust Masses, PAH Abundances, and Starlight Intensities in the SINGS Galaxy Sample
• Binary Population and Spectral Synthesis Version 2.1: construction, observational verification and new results
• Asymmetries in core-collapse supernovae from maps of radioactive ${}^{44}$Ti in CassiopeiaA
• Optical Spectra of 73 Stripped-Envelope Core-Collapse Supernovae
• Late-time spectral line formation in Type IIb supernovae, with application to SN 1993J, SN 2008ax, and SN 2011dh
• Hard X-ray emission lines from the decay of Ti-44 in the remnant of supernova 1987A
• The distribution of radioactive ${}^{44}$Ti in Cassiopeia A
• Uncovering the Putative B-Star Binary Companion of the SN 1993J Progenitor
• A Blue Point Source at the Location of Supernova 2011dh
• The light curve of SN 1987A revisited: constraining production masses of radioactive nuclides
• The very young resolved stellar populations around stripped-envelope supernovae
• Long-Lasting X-Ray Emission from Type IIb Supernova 2011dh and Mass-Loss History of The Yellow Supergiant Progenitor
• The mass-loss rates of red supergiants at low metallicity: Detection of rotational CO emission from two red supergiants in the Large Magellanic Cloud

Cited by in corpus (20)

• How much hydrogen is in Type Ib and IIb supernova progenitors?
• SN 2009ip after a decade: The luminous blue variable progenitor is now gone
• Observability of inflated companion stars after supernovae in massive binaries
• An environmental analysis of the Type Ib SN 2019yvr and the possible presence of an inflated binary companion
• A UV census of the environments of stripped-envelope supernovae
• A hot and luminous source at the site of the fast transient AT2018cow at 2-3 years after its explosion
• Formation pathway for lonely stripped-envelope supernova progenitors: implications for Cassiopeia A
• Updated Photometry of the Yellow Supergiant Progenitor and Late-time Observations of the Type IIb Supernova 2016gkg
• Common envelope to explosion delay time of type Ia supernovae
• The Late Time Optical Evolution of Twelve Core-Collapse Supernovae: Detection of Normal Stellar Winds
• Common envelope to explosion delay time distribution (CEEDTD) of type Ia supernovae
• Constraining mass transfer and common-envelope physics with post-supernova companion monitoring
• Exploring the Observability of Surviving Companions of Stripped-Envelope Supernovae: A Case Study of Type Ic SN 2020oi
• The Demographics of Binary Companions to Stripped-Envelope Supernovae: Confronting Observations with Population Synthesis
• Optical Identification and Spectroscopy of Supernova Remnants in the Galaxy M51
• A Snapshot Survey of Nearby Supernovae with the Hubble Space Telescope
• The formation of the stripped envelope type II b Supernova progenitors: Rotation, Metallicity and Overshooting
• A low mass, binary-stripped envelope for the Type IIb SN 2024abfo
• A Search for Supernova Light Echoes in NGC 6946 with SITELLE
• Hubble Space Telescope Imaging Reveals That SN 2015bh Is Much Fainter than Its Progenitor