Discovery of variability of the progenitor of SN 2011dh in M 51 using the large binocular telescope

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Abstract

We show that the candidate progenitor of the core-collapse SN2011dh in M51 (8Mpc away) was fading by 0.039 0.006magyr-1 during the 3years prior to the supernova, and that this level of variability is moderately unusual for other similar stars in M51. While there are uncertainties about whether the true progenitor was a blue companion to this candidate, the result illustrates that there are no technical challenges to obtaining fairly high precision light curves of supernova-progenitor systems using ground-based observations of nearby (<10Mpc)galaxies with wide-field cameras on 8m class telescopes. While other sources of variability may dominate, it is even possible to reach into the range of evolution rates required by the quasi-static evolution of the stellar envelope. For M81, where we have many more epochs and a slightly longer time baseline, our formal 3σ sensitivity to slow changes is presently 3mmagyr-1 for an MV ≃ -8mag star. In short, there is no observational barrier to determining whether the variability properties of stars in their last phases of evolution (post-carbon ignition) are different from earlier phases. © 2012. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

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Szczygieł, D. M., Gerke, J. R., Kochanek, C. S., & Stanek, K. Z. (2012). Discovery of variability of the progenitor of SN 2011dh in M 51 using the large binocular telescope. Astrophysical Journal, 747(1). https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/747/1/23

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