RED AND DEAD: THE PROGENITOR OF SN 2012aw IN M95

: Fraser M, Maund JR, Smartt SJ, Botticella MT, Dall'Ora M, Inserra C, Tomasella L, Benetti S, Ciroi S, Eldridge JJ, Ergon M, Kotak R, Mattila S, Ochner P, Pastorello A, Reilly E, Sollerman J, Stephens A, Taddia F, Valenti S

Publisher: IOP PUBLISHING LTD

: 2012

: Astrophysical Journal Letters

: ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL LETTERS

: ASTROPHYS J LETT

: ARTN L13

: 1

: 759

: 1

: 5

: 2041-8205

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/759/1/L13

Core-collapse supernovae (SNe) are the spectacular finale to massive stellar evolution. In this Letter, we identify a progenitor for the nearby core-collapse SN 2012aw in both ground-based near-infrared and space-based optical pre-explosion imaging. The SN itself appears to be a normal Type II Plateau event, reaching a bolometric luminosity of 10(42) erg s(-1) and photospheric velocities of similar to 11,000 km s(-1) from the position of the H beta P-Cygni minimum in the early SN spectra. We use an adaptive optics image to show that the SN is coincident to within 27 mas with a faint, red source in pre-explosion HST+WFPC2, VLT+ISAAC, and NTT+SOFI images. The source has magnitudes F555W = 26.70 +/- 0.06, F814W = 23.39 +/- 0.02, J = 21.1 +/- 0.2, K = 19.1 +/- 0.4, which, when compared to a grid of stellar models, best matches a red supergiant. Interestingly, the spectral energy distribution of the progenitor also implies an extinction of A(V) > 1.2 mag, whereas the SN itself does not appear to be significantly extinguished. We interpret this as evidence for the destruction of dust in the SN explosion. The progenitor candidate has a luminosity between 5.0 and 5.6 log L/L-circle dot, corresponding to a zero-age main-sequence mass between 14 and 26 M-circle dot (depending on A(V)), which would make this one of the most massive progenitors found for a core-collapse SN to date.