Journal
NATURE
Volume 509, Issue 7501, Pages 471-+Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/nature13304
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Funding
- I-CORE programme 'The Quantum Universe' of the Planning and Budgeting Committee
- Israel Science Foundation
- ISF
- BSF
- GIF
- Minerva
- FP7/ERC
- Kimmel Investigator award
- Hubble fellowship
- Israeli MOST
- NSF
- TABASGO Foundation
- Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund
- Christopher R. Redlich Fund
- Swedish Research Council
- W. M. Keck Foundation
- Carnegie-Princeton fellowship
- Direct For Mathematical & Physical Scien
- Division Of Astronomical Sciences [1211916] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Direct For Mathematical & Physical Scien
- Division Of Astronomical Sciences [1009987, 1109801] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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The explosive fate of massive Wolf-Rayet stars(1) (WRSs) is a key open question in stellar physics. An appealing option is that hydrogen-deficient WRSs are the progenitors of some hydrogen-poor supernova explosions of types IIb, Ib and Ic (ref. 2). A blue object, having luminosity and colours consistent with those of some WRSs, has recently been identified in pre-explosion images at the location of a supernova of type Ib (ref. 3), but has not yet been conclusively determined to have been the progenitor. Similar work has so far only resulted in non-detections(4). Comparison of early photometric observations of type Ic supernovae with theoretical models suggests that the progenitor stars had radii of less than 1012 centimetres, as expected for some WRSs(5). The signature of WRSs, their emission line spectra, cannot be probed by such studies. Here we report the detection of strong emission lines in a spectrum of type IIb supernova 2013cu (iPTF13ast) obtained approximately 15.5 hours after explosion (by 'flash spectroscopy', which captures the effects of the supernova explosion shock breakout flash on material surrounding the progenitor star). We identify Wolf-Rayet-like wind signatures, suggesting a progenitor of the WN(h) subclass (those WRSs with winds dominated by helium and nitrogen, with traces of hydrogen). The extent of this dense wind may indicate increased mass loss from the progenitor shortly before its explosion, consistent with recent theoretical predictions(6).
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