SN 2004A: another Type II-P supernova with a red supergiant progenitor

Creators: Henrdy, M. A.; Smartt, S. J.; Crockett, R. M.; Maund, J. R.; Gal-Yam, A.; Moon, D.-S.; Cenko, S. B.; Fox, D. W.; Kudritzki, R. P.; Benn, C. R.; Østensen, R.

Abstract

We present a monitoring study of SN 2004A and probable discovery of a progenitor star in pre-explosion Hubble Space Telescope (HST) images. The photometric and spectroscopic monitoring of SN 2004A show that it was a normal Type II-P which was discovered in NGC 6207 about two weeks after explosion. We compare SN 2004A to the similar Type II-P SN 1999em and estimate an explosion epoch of 2004 January 6. We also calculate three new distances to NGC 6207 of 21.0 ± 4.3, 21.4 ± 3.5 and 25.1 ± 1.7 Mpc. The former was calculated using the Standard Candle Method (SCM) for SNe II-P, and the latter two from the brightest supergiants method (BSM). We combine these three distances with existing kinematic distances, to derive a mean value of 20.3 ± 3.4 Mpc. Using this distance, we estimate that the ejected nickel mass in the explosion is 0.046+0.031-0.017 Mo. The progenitor of SN 2004A is identified in pre-explosion WFPC2 F814W images with a magnitude of mF814W = 24.3 ± 0.3, but is below the detection limit of the F606W images. We show that this was likely a red supergiant (RSG) with a mass of 9+3-2 Mo. The object is detected at 4.7σ above the background noise. Even if this detection is spurious, the 5σ upper limit would give a robust upper mass limit of 12 Mo for a RSG progenitor. These initial masses are very similar to those of two previously identified RSG progenitors of the Type II-P SNe 2004gd (8+4-2 Mo) and 2005cs (9+3-2 Mo).

Additional Information

© 2006 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2006 RAS Accepted 2006 March 23. Received 2006 March 22; in original form 2005 November 24. Article published online 18 May 2006 Based on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained from the data archive at the Space Telescope Science Institute. STScI is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555. The spectroscopic data presented were obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the W.M. Keck Foundation. The authors wish to recognize and acknowledge the very significant cultural role and reverence that the summit of Mauna Kea has always had within the indigenous Hawaiian community. We are most fortunate to have the opportunity to conduct observations from this mountain. Some data presented were taken with the Liverpool Telescope at the Observatorio del Roque de Los Muchachos, La Palma Spain. The authors would like to express their thanks to the research staff at Caltech and Palomar Observatory who made the P60 automation possible. The initial phase of the P60 automation project was funded by a grant from the Caltech Endowment, with additional support for this work provided by the NSF and NASA. AGY acknowledges support by NASA through Hubble Fellowship grant #HST-HF-01158.01-A awarded by STScI, which is operated by AURA, Inc., for NASA, under contract NAS 5-26555. SJS acknowledges funding from PPARC and the European Science Foundation in the forms of Advanced and EURYI fellowships. MAH thanks PPARC and Queen's University, Belfast for their financial support.

Attached Files

Published - HENmnras06.pdf

Files

HENmnras06.pdf

Files (714.6 kB)

Name	Size	Download all
HENmnras06.pdf md5:97d7ddd8446cf4e90d973d6f8ffd7527	714.6 kB	Preview Download

Additional details

	All versions	This version
Views	0	0
Downloads	0	0
Data volume	0 Bytes	0 Bytes