iPTF13bvn: The First Evidence of a Binary Progenitor for a Type Ib Supernova

BERSTEN; BENVENUTO; FOLATELLI

ASTRONOMICAL JOURNAL

IOP PUBLISHING LTD

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2014

0004-6256

The recent detection in archival Hubble Space Telescope images of an object at the location of supernova (SN) iPTF13bvn may represent the first direct evidence of the progenitor of a Type Ib SN. The object´s photometry was found to be compatible with a Wolf-Rayet pre-SN star mass of ~ 11 Msun. However, based on hydrodynamical models, we show that the progenitor had a pre-SN mass of ~ 3.5 Msum and thatit could not be larger than 8 Msun. We propose an interacting binarysystem as the SN progenitor and perform evolutionary calculations thatare able to self-consistently explain the light curve shape, theabsence of hydrogen, and the pre-SN photometry. We further discuss therange of allowed binary systems and predict that the remainingcompanion is a luminous O-type star of significantly lower flux in theoptical than the pre-SN object. A future detection of such a star maybe possible and would provide the first robust identification of aprogenitor system for a Type Ib SN.