The death of massive stars - II. Observational constraints on the progenitors of Type Ibc supernovae
Abstract
The progenitors of many Type II core-collapse supernovae (SNe) have now been identified directly on pre-discovery imaging. Here, we present an extensive search for the progenitors of Type Ibc SNe in all available pre-discovery imaging since 1998. There are 12 Type Ibc SNe with no detections of progenitors in either deep ground-based or Hubble Space Telescope archival imaging. The deepest absolute BVR magnitude limits are between -4 and - 5 mag. We compare these limits with the observed Wolf-Rayet population in the Large Magellanic Cloud and estimate a 16 per cent probability that we have failed to detect such a progenitor by chance. Alternatively, the progenitors evolve significantly before core-collapse or we have underestimated the extinction towards the progenitors. Reviewing the relative rates and ejecta mass estimates from light-curve modelling of Ibc SNe, we find both incompatible with Wolf-Rayet stars with initial masses >25 M⊙ being the only progenitors. We present binary evolution models that fit these observational constraints. Stars in binaries with initial masses ≲ 20 M⊙ lose their hydrogen envelopes in binary interactions to become low-mass helium stars. They retain a low-mass hydrogen envelope until ≈104 yr before core-collapse; hence, it is not surprising that Galactic analogues have been difficult to identify.
- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- November 2013
- DOI:
- 10.1093/mnras/stt1612
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1301.1975
- Bibcode:
- 2013MNRAS.436..774E
- Keywords:
-
- binaries: general;
- stars: evolution;
- supergiants;
- supernovae: general;
- stars: Wolf-Rayet;
- Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics;
- Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- Accepted by MNRAS. 31 pages, 12 figures, 8 tables