An environmental analysis of supernova iPTF13bvn with HST and MUSE

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Main Authors: Singleton, Adam J., Maund, Justyn R., Sun, Ning-Chen
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Singleton, Adam J.
Maund, Justyn R.
Sun, Ning-Chen
author_facet Singleton, Adam J.
Maund, Justyn R.
Sun, Ning-Chen
contents Searches for supernovae (SNe) progenitors have relied on a direct detection of the star in fortuitous pre-explosion images. We propose an alternative method, using a combination of photometric stellar population fitting alongside integral-field-unit (IFU) spectroscopic analysis of the ionised gas to fully explore the SN environment and constrain the progenitor properties. Isochrone fitting of HST/WFC3 observations reveals the environment of iPTF13bvn contains two stellar populations with unique age ($τ=\log{t [years]}$) and extinction ($A_V$) values, with the closest agreement found between past progenitor studies of iPTF13bvn and our oldest stellar population (P2): $τ_{P2}=6.97^{+0.06}_{-0.06}$, a corresponding initial mass $M_{initial,P2} = 20.0 M_\odot$ and $A_{V,P2}=0.53^{+0.10}_{-0.08}$ mag. Further analysis with VLT/MUSE IFU-spectroscopic observations reveals no bright H II regions associated with iPTF13bvn, suggesting no immediate ongoing star formation. Extinctions derived from the ionised gas are a minimum of ~2.5 times higher than the resolved stellar population values, assisting in building a 3D picture of the environment. An analysis of the distribution of spaxel extinctions reveals increased variability in the environment of iPTF13bvn, on the edge of a spiral arm. Our study highlights the complex relationship between stars, gas and dust and how, when used in a holistic environmental analysis, they can begin to resolve degeneracies that have plagued past progenitor investigations. Specifically for iPTF13bvn, our results support a binary progenitor and a growing consensus for binarity as the predominant mass-loss mechanism for Type Ib SNe progenitors.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_08099
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle An environmental analysis of supernova iPTF13bvn with HST and MUSE
Singleton, Adam J.
Maund, Justyn R.
Sun, Ning-Chen
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Searches for supernovae (SNe) progenitors have relied on a direct detection of the star in fortuitous pre-explosion images. We propose an alternative method, using a combination of photometric stellar population fitting alongside integral-field-unit (IFU) spectroscopic analysis of the ionised gas to fully explore the SN environment and constrain the progenitor properties. Isochrone fitting of HST/WFC3 observations reveals the environment of iPTF13bvn contains two stellar populations with unique age ($τ=\log{t [years]}$) and extinction ($A_V$) values, with the closest agreement found between past progenitor studies of iPTF13bvn and our oldest stellar population (P2): $τ_{P2}=6.97^{+0.06}_{-0.06}$, a corresponding initial mass $M_{initial,P2} = 20.0 M_\odot$ and $A_{V,P2}=0.53^{+0.10}_{-0.08}$ mag. Further analysis with VLT/MUSE IFU-spectroscopic observations reveals no bright H II regions associated with iPTF13bvn, suggesting no immediate ongoing star formation. Extinctions derived from the ionised gas are a minimum of ~2.5 times higher than the resolved stellar population values, assisting in building a 3D picture of the environment. An analysis of the distribution of spaxel extinctions reveals increased variability in the environment of iPTF13bvn, on the edge of a spiral arm. Our study highlights the complex relationship between stars, gas and dust and how, when used in a holistic environmental analysis, they can begin to resolve degeneracies that have plagued past progenitor investigations. Specifically for iPTF13bvn, our results support a binary progenitor and a growing consensus for binarity as the predominant mass-loss mechanism for Type Ib SNe progenitors.
title An environmental analysis of supernova iPTF13bvn with HST and MUSE
topic High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.08099