The fate of the progenitors of luminous red novae: Infrared detection of LRNe years after the outburst

Abstract

We present late-time optical and infrared (IR) observations of a sample of nine extragalactic luminous red novae (LRNe) discovered in the past three decades. In all of these cases, the LRN survivors fade below the pre-outburst luminosity of the progenitors in the optical region. However, they remain visible in the near-IR (NIR) and bright in the mid-IR (MIR) domains for years. We recover AT 1997bs in Spitzer images from 2004, and a residual source is visible in HST and JWST NIR images 27 years after the outburst. The spectral energy distribution (SED) of AT 1997bs is consistent with that of an orange giant star with a photospheric temperature of 3750-4250 K and a radius of 120-150 $R_{\odot }$, without a significant circumstellar dust attenuation. Similarly, the SED of AT 2019zhd after three years is compatible with a red supergiant star with $T_{ph}=3100\pm 100$ K and $R=350\pm 50$ $R_{\odot }$. Another LRN, AT 2011kp, is detected by JWST 12.5 years after the outburst. Its SED, with two excesses at 1.8 and 7.7 $\mu$m, can be explained by a cold ($T\sim 450$ K) dusty shell composed of amorphous carbon surrounding a cold expanded source, plus emission from the Pa$\alpha$ line. We constructed the [3.6]-[4.5] colour curves extending up to more than 7 years for six LRNe, which show a similar evolution: The MIR colour is $\sim -0.5$ mag before the optical maximum light, it becomes bluer after around one year, and then it gradually turns to redder colours before reaching $\sim +1.0$ mag after 7 years. We also estimated the masses and the temperatures of newly formed dust years after the LRN onset. We find that LRNe produce dust masses of the order of (1-5)x$10^{-4}$ (and up to 2x$10^{-3}$) $M_{\odot }$ between 7 and 13 years after the outbursts. Finally, we find that the remnants of LRNe detected years or decades after the merger are expanded and cool objects, similar to red supergiant stars.

arXiv comment14 pages, 16 figures, 2 tables, 2 appendices, accepted by A&A

References in corpus (110)

• The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE): Mission Description and Initial On-orbit Performance
• The Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) for the Spitzer Space Telescope
• The Spitzer Space Telescope Mission
• The James Webb Space Telescope
• A new extensive library of PHOENIX stellar atmospheres and synthetic spectra
• The Photometric Performance and Calibration of the HST Advanced Camera For Surveys
• Common Envelope Evolution: Where we stand and how we can move forward
• Preliminary Results from NEOWISE: An Enhancement to the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer for Solar System Science
• Initial Performance of the NEOWISE Reactivation Mission
• V1309 Scorpii: merger of a contact binary
• Self-similarity and scaling behavior of IR emission from radiatively heated dust: I. Theory
• NIRCam Performance on JWST In Flight
• Luminous Blue Variable eruptions and related transients: Diversity of progenitors and outburst properties
• An energetic stellar outburst accompanied by circumstellar light echoes
• Rapid formation of large dust grains in the luminous supernova SN 2010jl
• Dust and the type II-plateau supernova 2004et
• SN 1997bs in M66: Another Extragalactic Eta Carinae Analog?
• SN 2008S: an electron capture SN from a super-AGB progenitor?
• The mysterious eruption of V838 Mon
• An unusually brilliant transient in the galaxy Messier 85
• Interacting Supernovae: Types IIn and Ibn
• Identification of the Long-Sought Common-Envelope Events
• Hydrodynamic moving-mesh simulations of the common envelope phase in binary stellar systems
• An Intermediate Luminosity Transient in NGC300: The Eruption of a Dust-Enshrouded Massive Star
• Stellar Mergers Are Common
• Cool and Luminous Transients from Mass-Losing Binary Stars
• Common envelope ejection in massive binary stars - Implications for the progenitors of GW150914 and GW151226
• V1309 SCO - Understanding a merger
• Nova Sagittarii 1994 #1 (V4332 Sagittarii): The Discovery and Evolution of an Unusual Luminous Red Variable Star
• Luminous Red Novae: Stellar Mergers or Giant Eruptions?
• Massive stars exploding in a He-rich circumstellar medium III. SN 2006jc: IR echoes from new and old dust in the progenitor CSM
• Accretion in common envelope evolution
• Common Envelope ejection for a Luminous Red Nova in M101
• Shock-powered light curves of luminous red novae as signatures of pre-dynamical mass loss in stellar mergers
• On Absorption by Circumstellar Dust, With the Progenitor of SN2012aw as a Case Study
• Lessons from the Onset of a Common Envelope Episode: the Remarkable M31 2015 Luminous Red Nova Outburst
• OGLE-2002-BLG-360: from a gravitational microlensing candidate to an overlooked red transient
• Massive-Star Mergers and the Recent Transient in NGC4490: A More Massive Cousin of V838 Mon and V1309 Sco
• Common envelope events with low-mass giants: understanding the transition to the slow spiral-in
• Modelling supernova line profile asymmetries to determine ejecta dust masses: SN 1987A from days 714 to 3604
• Evolution of V838 Monocerotis during and after the 2002 eruption
• Dust and the type II-Plateau supernova 2004dj
• Faint Supernovae and Supernova Impostors: Case studies of SN2002kg/NGC2403-V37 and SN 2003gm
• Extending Common Envelope Simulations from Roche Lobe Overflow to the Nebular Phase
• The peculiar variable V838 Mon
• Unmasking the Supernova Impostors
• The Environments of Supernovae in Post-Refurbishment Hubble Space Telescope Images
• Burying a Binary: Dynamical Mass Loss and a Continuous Optically-Thick Outflow Explain the Candidate Stellar Merger V1309 Scorpii
• Submillimeter-wave emission of three Galactic red novae: cool molecular outflows produced by stellar mergers
• Dusty Explosions from Dusty Progenitors: The Physics of SN2008S and the 2008 NGC300-OT
• A Spitzer/IRS Spectrum of the 2008 Luminous Transient in NGC 300: Connection to Proto-Planetary Nebulae
• Luminous Red Novae: population models and future prospects
• Common-envelope evolution with an asymptotic giant branch star
• A Luminous Red Nova in M31 and its Progenitor System
• Supernova Impostors and other Gap Transients
• A Hubble Space Telescope Snapshot Survey of Nearby Supernovae
• The Dusty Aftermath of the V1309 Sco Binary Merger
• Post-outburst spectra of a stellar-merger remnant of V1309 Scorpii: from a twin of V838 Monocerotis to a clone of V4332 Sagittarii
• On the triple peaks of SNHunt248 in NGC 5806
• V4332 Sagittarii revisited
• The transitional gap transient AT 2018hso: new insights on the luminous red nova phenomenon
• Common Envelope Evolution on a Moving Mesh
• It's Alive! The Supernova Impostor 1961V
• Remarkable changes in the near-infrared spectrum of the nova-like variable V4332 Sgr
• Pre-supernova evolution and final fate of stellar mergers and accretors of binary mass transfer
• Light Curve Model for Luminous Red Novae and Inferences about the Ejecta of Stellar Mergers
• A Spitzer Space Telescope study of SN 2002hh: an infrared echo from a Type IIP supernova
• Evolution of the stellar-merger red nova V1309 Scorpii: SED analysis
• The effects of dust on the optical and infrared evolution of SN 2004et
• SN Hunt 248: a super-Eddington outburst from a massive cool hypergiant
• CK Vul as a Candidate Eruptive Stellar Merging Event
• Progenitor, Precursor and Evolution of the Dusty Remnant of the Stellar Merger M31-LRN-2015
• MASTER OT J004207.99+405501.1/M31LRN 2015 Luminous Red Nova in M31: Discovery, Light Curve, Hydrodynamics, Evolution
• Luminous Red Nova AT 2019zhd, a new merger in M 31
• LOSS's First Supernova? New Limits on the "Impostor" SN 1997bs
• Properties of the post in-spiral common envelope ejecta II: dust formation
• The January 2015 outburst of a red nova in M31
• Disentangling Dust Components in SN 2010jl: The First 1400 Days
• Properties of the post in-spiral common envelope ejecta I: dynamical and thermal evolution
• JWST MIRI Flight Performance: Imaging
• The Evolution of Luminous Red Nova AT 2017jfs in NGC 4470
• The luminous red nova variety: AT 2020hat and AT 2020kog
• The dusty aftermath of SN Hunt248: merger-burst remnant?
• Understanding the evolution and dust formation of carbon stars in the LMC with a look at the JWST
• Luminous Red Nova 2015 in the Galaxy M101
• Interacting supernovae and supernova impostors. SN 2007sv: the major eruption of a massive star in UGC 5979
• V838 Mon: light echo evolution and distance estimate
• Observations of the luminous red nova AT 2021biy in the nearby galaxy NGC 4631
• M31-RV evolution and its alleged multi-outburst pattern
• Molecular remnant of Nova 1670 (CK Vulpeculae): I. Properties and enigmatic origin of the gas
• Gap Transients Interacting with Circumstellar Medium
• Spitzer Observations of V838 Monocerotis: Detection of a Rare Infrared Light Echo
• L & M band infrared studies of V4332 Sagittarii - detection of the water-ice absorption band at 3.05 microns and the CO fundamental band in emission
• High Spatial Resolution Mid-IR Imaging of V838 Monocerotis: Evidence of New Circumstellar Dust Creation
• Evolution of the dust in V4332 Sagittarii
• Dusty, Self-obscured Transients from Stellar Coalescence
• Observations of the Optical Transient in NGC 300 with AKARI/IRC: Possibilities of Asymmetric Dust Formation
• The supernova impostor PSN J09132750+7627410 and its progenitor
• Panchromatic evolution of three luminous red novae: Forbidden hugs in pandemic times -- IV
• Revisiting V1309 Sco 2008 outburst spectra. Observational evidence for theoretical modeling of stellar mergers
• Dust Formation in Common Envelope Binary Interaction -- I: 3D Simulations Using the Bowen Approximation
• Revealing a main-sequence star that consumed a planet with JWST
• A Snapshot Survey of Nearby Supernovae with the Hubble Space Telescope
• Large Cold Dust Reservoir Revealed in Transitional SN Ib 2014C by James Webb Space Telescope Mid-Infrared Spectroscopy
• On the properties of dust and gas in the environs of V838 Monocerotis
• A study in scarlet -- I. Photometric properties of a sample of Intermediate Luminosity Red Transients
• Temporal resolution of a pre-maximum halt in a Classical Nova: V5589 Sgr observed with STEREO HI-1B
• Two-Dimensional Radiation-Hydrodynamic Simulations of Luminous Red Novae
• OGLE-2002-BLG-360: a dusty anomaly among red nova remnants
• Two Decades of Dust Evolution in SN 2005af through JWST, Spitzer, and Chemical Modeling