Related papers: Type IIP Supernova Progenitors II: Stellar Mass an…
We investigate the red supergiant problem: the apparent dearth of Type IIP supernova progenitors with masses between 16 and 30 M_sun. Although red supergiants with masses in this range have been observed, none have been identified as…
The inevitable fate of massive stars in the initial mass range of ~8--30 M_{Sun} in the red supergiant (RSG) phase is a core-collapse supernova (SN) explosion, although some stars may collapse directly to a black hole. We know that this is…
A search for the progenitor of SN~2010jl, an unusually luminous core-collapse supernova of Type~IIn, using pre-explosion {\it Hubble}/WFPC2 and {\it Spitzer}/IRAC images of the region, yielded upper limits on the UV and near-infrared (IR)…
There are a growing number of nearby SNe for which the progenitor star is detected in archival pre-explosion imaging. From these images it is possible to measure the progenitor's brightness a few years before explosion, and ultimately…
We present pre-explosion photometry of the likely progenitor star of the Type II supernova (SN II) 2017eaw in NGC 6946. We use a Hubble Space Telescope (HST) image of SN 2017eaw to perform relative astrometry with HST and Spitzer Space…
Type IIP supernova progenitors are often surrounded by dense circumstellar media that may result from mass-loss enhancement of the progenitors shortly before their explosions. Previous light-curve studies suggest that the mass-loss rates…
Stars with initial masses in the range of 8-25 solar masses are thought to end their lives as hydrogen-rich supernovae (SNe II). Based on the pre-explosion images of Hubble Space Telescope ($HST$) and $Spitzer$ Space Telescope, we place…
We present the results of a 10.5 yr, volume limited (28 Mpc) search for supernova (SN) progenitor stars. We compile all SNe discovered within this volume (132, of which 27% are type Ia) and determine the relative rates of each sub-type from…
We present radiation-hydrodynamics simulations of core-collapse supernova (SN) explosions, artificially generated by driving a piston at the base of the envelope of a rotating or non-rotating red-supergiant progenitor star. We search for…
The progenitors of Type II-P supernovae (SN) have been confirmed to be red supergiants. However, the upper mass limit of the directly probed progenitors is much lower than that predicted by current theories, and the accurate determination…
The progenitors of low-luminosity Type II-Plateau supernovae (SNe II-P) are believed to be red supergiant (RSG) stars, but there is much disparity in the literature concerning their mass at core collapse and therefore on the main sequence.…
From the early radiation of type II-P supernovae (SNe), it has been claimed that the majority of their red supergiant (RSG) progenitors are enshrouded by large amounts of circumstellar material (CSM) at the point of explosion. The inferred…
The stars that end their lives as supernovae (SNe) have been directly observed in only a handful of cases, due mainly to the extreme difficulty in identifying them in images obtained prior to the SN explosions. Here we report the…
Masses and progenitor evolutionary states of TypeII supernovae remain almost unconstrained by direct observations. Only one robust observation of a progenitor (SN1987A) and one plausible observation (SN1993J) are available. Neither matched…
Recent observations of a large fraction of Type II supernovae show traces of dense circumstellar medium (CSM) very close to the progenitor star. If this CSM is created by eruptive mass loss several months before core-collapse, the eruption…
We report on the direct detection and characterization of the probable red supergiant progenitor of the intermediate-luminosity Type II-Plateau (II-P) supernova (SN) 2012aw in the nearby (10.0 Mpc) spiral galaxy Messier 95 (M95; NGC 3351).…
A set of hydrodynamical models based on stellar evolutionary progenitors is used to study the nature of SN 2011dh. Our modeling suggests that a large progenitor star ---with R ~200 Rsun---, is needed to reproduce the early light curve of SN…
As one of the closest supernovae (SNe) in the last decade, SN 2023ixf is an unprecedented target to investigate the progenitor star that exploded. However, there is still significant uncertainty in the reported progenitor properties. In…
The Type IIn supernovae (SNe IIn) have been found to be associated with significant amounts of dust. These core-collapse events are generally expected to be the final stage in the evolution of highly-massive stars, either while in an…
Over the last 15 years, the supernova community has endeavoured to identify progenitor stars of core-collapse supernovae in high resolution archival images of their galaxies.This review compiles results (from 1999 - 2013) in a distance…