The Search for Failed Supernovae with the Large Binocular Telescope: N6946-BH1, Still No Star

Abstract

We present new Large Binocular Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, and Spitzer Space Telescope data for the failed supernova candidate N6946-BH1. We also report an unsuccessful attempt to detect the candidate with Chandra. The ~300,000 Lsun red supergiant progenitor underwent an outburst in 2009 and has since disappeared in the optical. In the LBT data from May 2008 through October 2019, the upper limit on any increase in the R-band luminosity of the source is 2000 Lsun. HST and Spitzer observations show that the source continued to fade in the near-IR and mid-IR, fading by approximately a factor of 2 between October 2015 and September 2017 to 2900 Lsun at H band (F160W). Models of the spectral energy distribution are inconsistent with a surviving star obscured either by an ongoing wind or dust formed in the transient. The disappearance of N6946-BH1 remains consistent with a failed supernova.

arXiv comment9 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables

References in corpus (33)

• Maps of Dust IR Emission for Use in Estimation of Reddening and CMBR Foregrounds
• Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger
• Measuring Reddening with SDSS Stellar Spectra and Recalibrating SFD
• A method for optimal image subtraction
• Core-Collapse Supernovae from 9 to 120 Solar Masses Based on Neutrino-powered Explosions
• WFPC2 Stellar Photometry with HSTphot
• The death of massive stars - I. Observational constraints on the progenitors of type II-P supernovae
• An Overview of the Performance and Scientific Results from the Chandra X-Ray Observatory (CXO)
• Black Hole Formation in Failing Core-Collapse Supernovae
• Self-similarity and scaling behavior of IR emission from radiatively heated dust: I. Theory
• The search for failed supernovae with the Large Binocular Telescope: confirmation of a disappearing star
• Discovery of a Candidate Black Hole - Giant Star Binary System in the Galactic Field
• A Survey About Nothing: Monitoring a Million Supergiants for Failed Supernovae
• Very Low Energy Supernovae from Neutrino Mass Loss
• Observing the Next Galactic Supernova
• The Landscape of the Neutrino Mechanism of Core-Collapse Supernovae: Neutron Star and Black Hole Mass Functions, Explosion Energies and Nickel Yields
• Compact Binary Merger Rates: Comparison with LIGO/Virgo Upper Limits
• The Search for Failed Supernovae with The Large Binocular Telescope: First Candidates
• Failed Supernovae Explain the Compact Remnant Mass Function
• Dusty winds: I. Self-similar solutions
• The Search for Failed Supernovae with the Large Binocular Telescope: Constraints from 7 Years of Data
• Mass Ejection in Failed Supernovae: Variation with Stellar Progenitor
• The fate of fallback matter around newly born compact objects
• Type Ia Single Degenerate Survivors Must Be Overluminous
• Unmasking the Supernova Impostors
• Constraints on Core Collapse from the Black Hole Mass Function
• A Robust Tip of the Red Giant Branch Distance to the Fireworks Galaxy (NGC 6946)
• Census of Self-Obscured Massive Stars in Nearby Galaxies with Spitzer: Implications for Understanding the Progenitors of SN 2008S-Like Transients
• Chandra Observation of the X-Ray Source Population of NGC 6946
• LOSS's First Supernova? New Limits on the "Impostor" SN 1997bs
• On the Progenitor of the Type Ic Supernova 2012fh
• Finding η Car Analogs in Nearby Galaxies Using Spitzer: I. Candidate Selection
• Dust Formation By Failed Supernovae

Cited by in corpus (11)

• Pre-supernova evolution, compact object masses and explosion properties of stripped binary stars
• The search for failed supernovae with the Large Binocular Telescope: a new candidate and the failed SN fraction with 11 yr of data
• Characteristic Time Variability of Gravitational-Wave and Neutrino Signals from Three-dimensional Simulations of Non-Rotating and Rapidly Rotating Stellar Core-Collapse
• A Search for Satellite Galaxies of Nearby Star-Forming Galaxies with Resolved Stars in LBT-SONG
• An Exceptional Dimming Event for a Massive, Cool Supergiant in M51
• How many explosions does one need? -- Quantifying supernovae in globular clusters from iron abundance spreads
• Nucleosynthesis signatures of neutrino-driven winds from proto-neutron stars: a perspective from chemical evolution models
• The circumstellar matter of type II intermediate luminosity optical transients (ILOTs)
• The Progenitor of the Vela Pulsar
• Stellar Migration and Chemical Enrichment in the Milky Way Disc: A Hybrid Model
• Numerical Simulations of the Random Angular Momentum in Convection: Implications for Supergiant Collapse to Form Black Holes