Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-10-2012

Abstract

Models for the progenitor systems of Type Ia supernovae can be divided into double-degenerate systems, which contain two white dwarfs, and single-degenerate systems, which contain one white dwarf plus one companion star (either a red giant, a subgiant, or a >1.16 M main-sequence star). The white dwarf is destroyed in the supernova explosion, but any non-degenerate companion remains intact. We present the results of a search for an ex-companion star in SNR 0519-69.0, located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, based on images taken with the Hubble Space Telescope with a limiting magnitude of V = 26.05. SNR 0519-69.0 is confidently known to be from a Type Ia supernova based on its light echoes and X-ray spectra. The geometric center of the remnant (based on the Hα and X-ray shell) is at 05:19:34.83, -69:02:06.92 (J2000). Accounting for the measurement uncertainties, the orbital velocity, and the kick velocity, any ex-companion star must be within 47 of this position at the 99.73% confidence level. This circle contains 27 main-sequence stars brighter than V = 22.7, any one of which could be the ex-companion star left over from a supersoft source progenitor system. The circle contains no post-main-sequence stars, and this rules out the possibility of all other published single-degenerate progenitor classes (including symbiotic stars, recurrent novae, helium donors, and the spin-up/spin-down models) for this particular supernova. The only remaining possibility is that SNR 0519-69.0 was formed from either a supersoft source or a double-degenerate progenitor system. © 2012. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

Publication Source (Journal or Book title)

Astrophysical Journal Letters

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