A young stellar environment for the superluminous supernova PTF12dam.
Abstract
The progenitors of superluminous supernovae (SLSNe) are still a mystery. Hydrogen-poor SLSN hosts are young, highly star-forming dwarf galaxies and the majority belongs to the class of `extreme emission line galaxies'. Here we present a resolved long-slit study of the host of the hydrogen-poor SLSN PTF12dam probing the kiloparsec environment of the SN site to determine the age of the progenitor. The SN occurred in a star-forming region in the head of a `tadpole' galaxy with largely uniform properties. The galaxy experienced a recent starburst superimposed on an underlying old stellar population (SP). We determine a very young SP at the SN site of ∼3 Myr and a metallicity of 12+log(O/H)=8.0 but do not observe any Wolf-Rayet features. The progenitor of PTF12dam was likely a massive star of >60 M⊙ and one of the first stars exploding as an SN in the most recent starburst episode.
- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- July 2015
- DOI:
- 10.1093/mnrasl/slv051
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1411.1104
- Bibcode:
- 2015MNRAS.451L..65T
- Keywords:
-
- supernovae: individual: PTF12dam;
- galaxies: abundances;
- galaxies starburst;
- Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies
- E-Print:
- submitted to MNRAS letters. 5 pages, 3 figures, supplementary material: 2 figures, 2 tables