Observed Fractions of Core-Collapse Supernova Types and Initial Masses of their Single and Binary Progenitor Stars

By N. Smith, Weidong Li, A. Filippenko, Ryan Chornock. 2010

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We analyse the observed fractions of core-collapse supernova (SN) types from the Lick Observatory Supernova Search (LOSS), and we discuss the corresponding implications for massive star evolution. For a standard initial mass function, observed fractions of SN types cannot be reconciled with the expectations of single-star evolution. The mass range of Wolf–Rayet (WR) stars that shed their hydrogen envelopes via their own mass-loss accounts for less than half of the observed fraction of Type Ibc supernovae (SNe Ibc). The true progenitors of SNe Ibc must extend to a much lower range of initial masses than classical WR stars, and we argue that most SN Ibc and SN IIb progenitors must arise from binary Roche lobe overflow. In this scenario, SNe Ic would still trace higher initial mass and metallicity, because line-driven winds in the WR stage remove the helium layer and propel the transition from SN Ib to Ic. Less massive progenitors of SNe Ib and IIb may not be classical WR stars; they may be underluminous with weak winds, possibly hidden by overluminous mass-gainer companions that could appear as B[e] supergiants or related objects having aspherical circumstellar material. The remaining SN types (II-P, II-L and IIn) need to be redistributed across the full range of initial masses, so that even some very massive single stars retain H envelopes until explosion. We consider the possibility of direct collapse to black holes without visible SNe, but find this hypothesis difficult to accommodate in most scenarios. Major areas of remaining uncertainty are (1) the detailed influence of binary separation, rotation and metallicity; (2) mass differences in progenitors of SNe IIn compared to SNe II-L and II-P; and (3) the fraction of SNe Ic arising from single stars with the help of eruptive mass-loss, how this depends on metallicity and how it relates to diversity within the SN Ic subclass. Continued studies of progenitor stars and their environments in nearby galaxies, accounting for SN types, may eventually test these ideas.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/a472eb90cc92acebe4c773e060ea039900dfc27a

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Citations in the corpus

Core-collapse explosions of Wolf–Rayet stars and the connection to Type IIb/Ib/Ic supernovae (2011, background): “A similar conclusion emerges from independent considerations based on the observed SN Ib/c rate (Smith et al. 2010).”
Unresolved stellar companions with Gaia DR2 astrometry (2020, background): “…are also suspected to be (Podsiadlowski et al. 1993; Smartt et al. 2009; C© 2020 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society nloaded from https://academ ic.oup.com /m nras/article/496/2/1922/5849452 by guest on 02 July 2021 Smith et al. 2011).”
Bolometric light curves and explosion parameters of 38 stripped-envelope core-collapse supernovae (2014, background): “…Crowther 2013), the stellar populations surrounding SNe (e.g. Kuncarayakti et al. 2013; Williams et al. 2014), and SN rates (e.g. Li et al. 2011; Smith et al. 2011) all provide alternate means of probing the underlying progenitors populations and investigating differences in age, metallicity,…”
PLANET HUNTERS: A TRANSITING CIRCUMBINARY PLANET IN A QUADRUPLE STAR SYSTEM (2012, methodology): “Planet Hunters uses the Zooniverse2 platform, first described in (Lintott et al. 2008; Smith et al. 2011), to present visitors to the Planet Hunters website with a randomly selected ∼30- day light curve segment from one of Kepler’s ∼160,000 target stars.”
Type II-Plateau supernova radiation: dependences on progenitor and explosion properties (2013, background): “In current surveys, they represent about 50% of all corecollapse SNe (Arcavi et al. 2010; Smith et al. 2011).”
Presupernova Evolution and Explosive Nucleosynthesis of Rotating Massive Stars in the Metallicity Range −3 ≤ [Fe/H] ≤ 0 (2018, result): “…of all core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe; having assumed a Salpeter IMF, a minimum mass for the CCSNe of ∼9.5Me, and an upper mass limit Mtop∼25Me): this number is in very good agreement with the SN rates estimated from the volumelimited Lick Observatory Supernova Search (LOSS; Smith et al. 2011).”
Progenitor mass constraints for core-collapse supernovae from correlations with host galaxy star formation⋆ (2012, methodology): “We use this as a starting point for interpreting our results on the different SN types, and investigate differences in the association of different types with host galaxy SF.”
The death of massive stars – I. Observational constraints on the progenitors of Type II-P supernovae (2008, methodology): “As suggested by Smith et al. (2011a), we find that a singlestar population cannot produce the observed rates of Ibc SNe.”
PREPARING FOR AN EXPLOSION: HYDRODYNAMIC INSTABILITIES AND TURBULENCE IN PRESUPERNOVAE (2013, background): “In the Milky Way and other local galaxies, the massive stars which are most notoriously observed to experience violent episodic mass loss are the luminous blue variables (LBVs; Conti 1984; Humphreys & Davidson 1994; Smith et al. 2004, 2011b; Clark et al. 2005).”
The Milky Way Project First Data Release: a bubblier Galactic disc (2012, background): “Galaxy Zoo (Lintott et al. 2008, 2011) and the larger suite of Zooniverse2 projects (Smith et al. 2011), have successfully built a large community of volunteers3 eager to participate in scientific activities.”
THE TYPE IIb SUPERNOVA 2011dh FROM A SUPERGIANT PROGENITOR (2012, result): “This is supported for example by population studies compared with the observed rates of SNe (Eldridge et al. 2008; Smith et al. 2011).”
TOWARD CHARACTERIZATION OF THE TYPE IIP SUPERNOVA PROGENITOR POPULATION: A STATISTICAL SAMPLE OF LIGHT CURVES FROM Pan-STARRS1 (2014, background): “…massive envelopes (e.g. initial masses of ∼ 7−10 M ; Swartz et al. 1991) or from more massive stars which have been stripped by strong radiation driven winds (& 18 M ; Smith et al. 2011), and/or stars which have been partially stripped by interaction with binary companions (Nomoto et al. 1995).”
On the nature of supernovae Ib and Ic (2012, result): “The surprisingly high occurrence rates of SNe Ib and Ic versus II-P in existing surveys (Smith et al. 2011), together with the nondetection of SN Ib/Ic progenitors so far, give further support to such binary-star progenitors (Eldridge, Izzard & Tout 2008).”
The Galactic WC stars Stellar parameters from spectral analyses indicate a new evolutionary sequence (2012, methodology): “Smith et al. (2011) discussed that there seem to be two ways for LBVs, either by exploding or turning into another WR stage to eventually explode as SN Ib or Ic.”
Observational Constraints on the Progenitors of Core-Collapse Supernovae: The Case for Missing High-Mass Stars (2015, background): “However, the high relative rate estimated in Smith et al. (2011a) does not appear to hold at lower distances (see Eldridge et al. 2013, for a discussion on this topic).”
Fundamental properties of core-collapse Supernova and GRB progenitors: predicting the look of massive stars before death (2013, background): “We assume, as in Georgy et al. (2012), a Salpeter-type initial mass function, that the lower and upper initial mass limit for core-collapse SNe are 8 and 120 M , respectively, that SNe occur even when black holes are formed, and that all SNe are observable (see also Heger et al. 2003).”
RAPIDLY EVOLVING AND LUMINOUS TRANSIENTS FROM PAN-STARRS1 (2014, background): “The rates of these short duration transients are not insignificant compared to the rates of longer duration type IIn SN (8−9% of core-collapse SN; Smith et al. 2011).”
Carnegie Supernova Project: Observations of Type IIn supernovae ⋆ (2013, methodology): “Although the CSP was not an unbiased survey, the number of SNe IIn (7) and the total number of CC SNe (116) is consistent with the fraction found by Smith et al. (2011).”