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The Candidate Progenitor of the Type IIn SN 2010jl Is Not an Optically Luminous StarA blue source in pre-explosion Hubble Space Telescope (HST)/Wide-Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) images falls within the 5 Sigma astrometric error circle (approx. 0." 24) derived from post-explosion ground-based imaging of SN 2010jl. At the time the ground-based astrometry was published, however, the SN had not faded sufficiently forpost-explosion HST follow-up observations to determine a more precise astrometric solution and/or confirm if the pre-explosion source had disappeared, both of which are necessary to ultimately disentangle the possible progenitor scenarios. Here we present HST/WFC3 imaging of the SN 2010jl field obtained in 2014, 2015, and 2016 when the SN had faded sufficiently to allow for new constraints on the progenitor. The SN, which is still detected in the new images, is offset by 0."061(+/-) 0."008 (15 +/- 2 pc) from the underlying and extended source ofemission that contributes at least partially, if not entirely, to the blue source previously suggested as the candidate progenitor in the WFPC2 data. This point alone rules out the possibility that the blue source in the pre-explosion images is the exploding star, but may instead suggest an association with a young (less than 56 Myr) cluster and still argues for a massive (greater than 30 solar mass) progenitor. We obtain new upper limits on the flux from a single star at the SN position in the pre-explosion WFPC2 and Spitzer/IRAC images that may ultimately be used to constrain the progenitor properties.
Document ID
20170004532
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Fox, Ori D.
(Space Telescope Science Inst. Baltimore, MD, United States)
Van Dyk, Schuyler D.
(California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Dwek, Eli
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Smith, Nathan
(Arizona Univ. Tucson, AZ, United States)
Filippenko, Alexei V.
(California Univ. Berkeley, CA, United States)
Andrews, Jennifer
(Arizona Univ. Tucson, AZ, United States)
Arendt, Richard G.
(Maryland Univ. Baltimore County Baltimore, MD, United States)
Foley, Ryan J.
(California Univ. Santa Cruz, CA, United States)
Kelly, Patrick L.
(California Univ. Berkeley, CA, United States)
Miller, Adam
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Shivvers, Isaac
(California Univ. Berkeley, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
May 10, 2017
Publication Date
February 22, 2017
Publication Information
Publication: The Astrophysical Journal
Publisher: The Astrophysical Journal
Volume: 836
Issue: 2
ISSN: 0004-637X
e-ISSN: 1538-4357
Subject Category
Astronomy
Statistics And Probability
Astrophysics
Report/Patent Number
GSFC-E-DAA-TN42358
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: GO-14668
CONTRACT_GRANT: NSF-AST-1211916
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAS5-03127
CONTRACT_GRANT: GO-13341
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAS5-26555
CONTRACT_GRANT: NSF-AST-1518052
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNG17PT01A
CONTRACT_GRANT: GO-14149
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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