Related papers: The red supergiant progenitor luminosity problem
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…
The apparent tension between the luminosity functions of red supergiant (RSG) stars and of RSG progenitors of Type II supernovae (SNe) is often referred to as the RSG problem and it motivated some to suggest that many RSGs end their life…
The red supergiant (RSG) problem, which describes the apparent lack of high-luminosity progenitors detected in Type II supernova (SN) pre-images, has been a contentious topic for two decades. We re-assess this problem using a new RSG…
The red supergiant (RSG) problem refers to the observed dearth of luminous RSGs identified as progenitors of Type II supernovae (SNe II) in pre-SN imaging. Understanding this phenomenon is essential for studying pre-SN mass loss and the…
By comparing the properties of Red Supergiant (RSG) supernova progenitors to those of field RSGs, it has been claimed that there is an absence of progenitors with luminosities $L$ above $\log(L/L_\odot) > 5.2$. This is in tension with the…
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…
I present progenitor luminosities ($L$) for a sample of 112 Type II supernovae (SNe II), computed directly from progenitor photometry and the bolometric correction technique, or indirectly from empirical correlations between progenitor…
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…
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.…
It has been well established from a variety of observations that red supergiants (RSGs) loose a lot of mass in stellar wind. Dust formed in this emitted gas over a few decades before core-collapse can lead to substantial extinction and…
We present high quality ground-based VRI images of the site of the Type II-P SN1999em (in NGC1637) taken before explosion, which were extracted from the CFHT archive. We determine a precise position of the SN on these images to an accuracy…
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 `Red Supergiant Problem' describes the claim that the brightest Red Supergiant (RSG) progenitors to type II-P supernovae are significantly fainter than RSGs in the field. This mismatch has been interpreted by several authors as being a…
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…
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 progenitors of Type II-P supernovae (SNe) are generally considered to be red supergiants; however, the so-called "red supergiant problem" indicates that a deeper investigation into the progenitors of this class of SNe is necessary. SN…
A central goal in supernova (SN) research is to identify and characterize their progenitors. However, this is very difficult due to the limited archival images with sufficient depth and spatial resolution required for direct progenitor…
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…
The nature of the progenitor star (or system) for the Type IIn supernova (SN) subclass remains uncertain. While there are direct imaging constraints on the progenitors of at least four Type IIn supernovae, one of them being SN 2010jl,…
Red supergiants have been confirmed as the progenitor stars of the majority of hydrogen-rich type II supernovae. However, while such stars are observed with masses >25M$_\odot$, detections of >18M$_\odot$ progenitors remain elusive. Red…