Document Type
Article
Publication Date
8-1-2011
Abstract
SN2010jl was an extremely bright, Type IIn supernova (SN) which showed a significant infrared (IR) excess no later than 90days after explosion. We have obtained Spitzer 3.6 and 4.5 μm and JHK observations of SN2010jl 90days post-explosion. Little to no reddening in the host galaxy indicated that the circumstellar material lost from the progenitor must lie in a torus inclined out of the plane of the sky. The likely cause of the high mid-IR flux is the reprocessing of the initial flash of the SN by pre-existing circumstellar dust. Using a three-dimensional Monte Carlo radiative-transfer code, we have estimated that between 0.03 and 0.35 M of dust exists in a circumstellar torus around the SN located 6 × 1017cm away from the SN and inclined between 60° and 80° to the plane of the sky. On day 90, we are only seeing the illumination of approximately 5% of this torus, and expect to see an elevated IR flux from this material up until day 450. It is likely this dust was created in a luminous blue variable (LBV) like mass-loss event of more than 3 M, which is large but consistent with other LBV progenitors such as η Carinae. © 2011. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved..
Publication Source (Journal or Book title)
Astronomical Journal
Recommended Citation
Andrews, J., Clayton, G., Wesson, R., Sugerman, B., Barlow, M., Clem, J., Ercolano, B., Fabbri, J., Gallagher, J., Landolt, A., Meixner, M., Otsuka, M., Riebel, D., & Welch, D. (2011). Evidence for pre-existing dust in the bright type IIn SN2010jl. Astronomical Journal, 142 (2) https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-6256/142/2/45