We present the discovery of PTF 10vgv, a Type Ic supernova detected by the Palomar Transient Factory, using the Palomar 48-inch telescope (P48). R-band observations of the PTF 10vgv field with P48 probe the supernova emission from its very early phases (about two weeks before R-band maximum), and set limits on its flux in the week prior to the discovery. Our sensitive upper limits and early detections constrain the post-shock-breakout luminosity of this event. Via comparison to numerical (analytical) models, we derive an upper-limit of R \lesssim 4.5 Rsun (R \lesssim 1 Rsun) on the radius of the progenitor star, a direct indication in favor of a compact Wolf-Rayet star. Applying a similar analysis to the historical observations of SN 1994I, yields R \lesssim 1/4 Rsun for the progenitor radius of this supernova.
@article{arxiv.1110.5618,
title = {Evidence for a compact Wolf-Rayet progenitor for the Type Ic supernova PTF 10vgv},
author = {A. Corsi and E. O. Ofek and A. Gal-Yam and D. A. Frail and D. Poznanski and P. A. Mazzali and S. R. Kulkarni and M. M. Kasliwal and I. Arcavi and S. Ben-Ami and S. B. Cenko and A. V. Filippenko and D. B. Fox and A. Horesh and J. L. Howell and I. K. W. Kleiser and E. Nakar and I. Rabinak and R. Sari and J. M. Silverman and D. Xu and J. S. Bloom and N. M. Law and P. E. Nugent and R. M. Quimby},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1110.5618},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
16 pages; 3 figures; accepted for publication in ApJ Letters; minor changes to match published version (results unchanged)