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

BERSTEN, M. C.; BENVENUTO, O. G.; FOLATELLI, G.; NOMOTO, K.

ASTRONOMICAL JOURNAL

IOP PUBLISHING LTD

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2014 vol. 148 p. 68 - 73

0004-6256

The recent detection in archival HST images of an object at the 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 M⊙. However, based on hydrodynamical models we show that the progenitor had a pre-SN mass of  3.5M⊙ and that it could not be larger than  8 M⊙. We propose an interacting binary system as the SN progenitor and perform evolutionary calculations that are able to self-consistently explain the light-curve shape, the absence of hydrogen, and the pre-SN photometry. We further discuss the range of allowed binary systems and predict that the remaining companion is a luminous O-type star of significantly lower flux in the optical than the pre-SN object. A future detection of such star may be possible and would provide the first robust identification of a progenitor system for a Type Ib SN.