On the nature of the progenitor of the type Ia SN2011fe in M101

Abstract

The explosion of a Type Ia supernova, SN2011fe, in the nearby Pinwheel galaxy (M101 at 6.4 Mpc) provides an opportunity to study pre-explosion images and search for the progenitor, which should consist of a white dwarf (WD), possibly surrounded by an accretion disk, in orbit with another star. We report on our use of deep Chandra observations and Hubble Space Telescope observations to limit the luminosity and temperature of the pre-explosion WD. It is found that if the spectrum was a blackbody, then pre-SN WDs with steady nuclear burning of the highest possible temperatures and luminosities are excluded assuming moderate n H values, but values of kT between roughly 10eV and 60eV are permitted even if the WD was emitting at the Eddington luminosity. This allows the progenitor to be an accreting nuclear-burning WD with an expanded photosphere 4-100 times the WD itself, or a super-critically accreting WD blowing off an optically thick strong wind, or possibly a recurrent nova with luminosities an order of magnitude lower than Eddington. The observations are also consistent with a double degenerate scenario, or a spinning down WD that has been spun up by accretion from the donor. © 2012. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.