On the Progenitor of the Type II-Plateau SN 2008cn in NGC 4603

A trend is emerging regarding the progenitor stars that give rise to the most common core-collapse supernovae (SNe), those of Type II-Plateau (II-P): they generally appear to be red supergiants with a limited range of initial masses, ~8-16 M _sun. Here, we consider another example, SN 2008cn, in the nearly face-on spiral galaxy NGC 4603. Even with limited photometric data, it appears that SN 2008cn is not a normal SN II-P, but is of the high-luminosity subclass. Through comparison of pre- and post-explosion images obtained with the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 on board the Hubble Space Telescope, we have isolated a supergiant star prior to explosion at nearly the same position as the SN. We provide evidence that this supergiant may well be the progenitor of the SN, although this identification is not entirely unambiguous. This is exacerbated by the distance to the host galaxy, 33.3 Mpc, making SN 2008cn the most distant SN II-P yet for which an attempt has been made to identify a progenitor star in pre-SN images. The progenitor candidate has a more yellow color ([V - I]₀ = 0.98 mag and T _eff = 5200 ± 300 K) than generally would be expected and, if a single star, would require that it exploded during a "blue loop" evolutionary phase, which is theoretically not expected to occur. Nonetheless, we estimate an initial mass of M _ini = 15 ± 2 M _sun for this star, which is within the expected mass range for SN II-P progenitors. The yellower color could also arise from the blend of two or more stars, such as a red supergiant and a brighter, blue supergiant. Such a red supergiant hidden in this blend could instead be the progenitor and would also have an initial mass within the expected progenitor mass range. Furthermore, the yellow supergiant could be in a massive, interacting binary system, analogous to the possible yellow supergiant progenitor of the high-luminosity SN II-P 2004et. Finally, if the yellow supergiant is not the progenitor, or is not a stellar blend or binary containing the progenitor, then we constrain any undetected progenitor star to be a red supergiant with M _ini <~ 11 M _sun, considering a physically more realistic scenario of explosion at the model endpoint luminosity for a rotating star.

Based on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained from the Data Archive at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 05-26555. Based in part on data gathered with the 6.5 m Magellan telescopes, located at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile.