A Blast from the Pasture: Studying the environment of AT 2018cow with MUSE

Abstract

AT 2018cow was the nearest and best studied example of a new breed of extra-galactic, luminous and rapidly-evolving transient. Both the progenitor systems and explosion mechanisms of these rapid transients remain a mystery - the energetics, spectral signatures, and timescales make them challenging to interpret in established classes of supernovae and tidal disruption events. The rich, multi-wavelength data-set of AT 2018cow has still left several interpretations viable to explain the nature of this event. In this paper we analyse integral-field spectroscopic data of the host galaxy, CGCG 137-068, to compare environmental constraints with leading progenitor models. We find the explosion site of AT 2018cow to be very typical of core-collapse supernovae (known to form from stars with MZAMS ~8-25M), and infer a young stellar population age at the explosion site of few times 10Myr, at slightly sub-solar metallicity. When comparing to expectations for exotic intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH) tidal disruption events,we find no evidence for a potential host system of the IMBH. In particular, there are no abrupt changes in metallicity or kinematics in the vicinity of the explosion site, arguing against the presence of a distinct host system. The proximity of AT 2018cow to strong star-formation in the host galaxy makes us favour a massive stellar progenitor for this event.

Accepted to MNRAS, 10 pages

References in corpus (15)

• Binary Population and Spectral Synthesis Version 2.1: construction, observational verification and new results
• The MUSE second-generation VLT instrument
• Long gamma-ray bursts and core-collapse supernovae have different environments
• Pulsational pair instability as an explanation for the most luminous supernovae
• A Continuum of H- to He-Rich Tidal Disruption Candidates With a Preference for E+A Galaxies
• Rapidly-Evolving and Luminous Transients from Pan-STARRS1
• Early-time light curves of Type Ib/c supernovae from the SDSS-II Supernova Survey
• The environment of the binary neutron star merger GW170817
• The superluminous supernova SN 2017egm in the nearby galaxy NGC 3191: a metal-rich environment can support a typical SLSN evolution
• Investigating the diversity of supernovae type Iax: A MUSE and NOT spectroscopic study of their environments
• Star Cluster Ecology: VII The evolution of young dense star clusters containing primordial binaries
• AT 2018cow VLBI: No Long-Lived Relativistic Outflow
• HI 21cm mapping of the host galaxy of AT2018cow: a fast-evolving luminous transient within a ring of high column density gas
• On the nature of the unusual transient AT 2018cow from HI observations of its host galaxy
• ALMA observations of molecular gas in the host galaxy of AT2018cow

Cited by in corpus (22)

• The Science of the Einstein Telescope
• The Type Icn SN 2021csp: Implications for the Origins of the Fastest Supernovae and the Fates of Wolf-Rayet Stars
• Circumstellar Interaction Powers the Light Curves of Luminous Rapidly Evolving Optical Transients
• The Host Galaxies of Rapidly Evolving Transients in the Dark Energy Survey
• The Peculiar Transient AT2018cow: A Possible Origin of A Type Ibn/IIn Supernova
• A common envelope jets supernova (CEJSN) impostor scenario for fast blue optical transients
• An environmental analysis of the Type Ib SN 2019yvr and the possible presence of an inflated binary companion
• A hot and luminous source at the site of the fast transient AT2018cow at 2-3 years after its explosion
• Minutes-duration Optical Flares with Supernova Luminosities
• An environmental analysis of the fast transient AT2018cow and implications for its progenitor and late-time brightness
• Toward a better understanding of supernova environments: a study of SNe 2004dg and 2012P in NGC 5806 with HST and MUSE
• Late-time Hubble Space Telescope Observations of AT 2018cow. II. Evolution of a UV bright Underlying Source 2--4 Yr Post-discovery
• A possible 250-second X-ray quasi-periodicity in the fast blue optical transient AT2018cow
• On the nature of Fast Blue Optical Transients
• Late-time Hubble Space Telescope Observations of AT 2018cow. I. Further Constraints on the Fading Prompt Emission and Thermal Properties 50--60 Days Post-discovery
• Real-time Discovery of AT2020xnd: A Fast, Luminous Ultraviolet Transient with Minimal Radioactive Ejecta
• Luminous Fast Blue Optical Transients as "Failed" Gravitational-wave Sources: Helium Core$-$Black Hole Mergers Following Delayed Dynamical Instability
• Supernova environments in J-PLUS. Normalized Cumulative Rank distributions and stellar population synthesis, combining narrow- and broad-band filters
• The X-ray and Radio Loud Fast Blue Optical Transient AT2020mrf: Implications for an Emerging Class of Engine-Driven Massive Star Explosions
• MUSE IFU observations of galaxies hosting Tidal Disruption Events
• A study on late time UV-emission in core collapse supernovae and the implications for the peculiar transient AT2018cow
• Luminous Fast Blue Optical Transients and Type Ibn/Icn SNe from Wolf-Rayet/Black Hole Mergers