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Title: Finding the Fuse: Prospects for the Detection and Characterization of Hydrogen-rich Core-collapse Supernova Precursor Emission with the LSST
Abstract Enhanced emission in the months to years preceding explosion has been detected for several core-collapse supernovae (SNe). Though the physical mechanisms driving the emission remain hotly debated, the light curves of detected events show long-lived (≥50 days), plateau-like behavior, suggesting hydrogen recombination may significantly contribute to the total energy budget. The Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) will provide a decade-long photometric baseline to search for this emission, both in binned pre-explosion observations after an SN is detected and in single-visit observations prior to the SN explosion. In anticipation of these searches, we simulate a range of eruptive precursor models to core-collapse SNe and forecast the discovery rates of these phenomena in LSST data. We find a detection rate of ∼40–130 yr−1for SN IIP/IIL precursors and ∼110 yr−1for SN IIn precursors in single-epoch photometry. Considering the first three years of observations with the effects of rolling and observing triplets included, this number grows to a total of 150–400 in binned photometry, with the highest number recovered when binning in 100 day bins for 2020tlf-like precursors and in 20 day bins for other recombination-driven models from the literature. We quantify the impact of using templates contaminated by residual light (from either long-lived or separate precursor emission) on these detection rates, and explore strategies for estimating baseline flux to mitigate these issues. Spectroscopic follow-up of the eruptions preceding core-collapse SNe and detected with LSST will offer important clues to the underlying drivers of terminal-stage mass loss in massive stars.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2019786
PAR ID:
10570060
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Publisher / Repository:
The American Astronomical Society
Date Published:
Journal Name:
The Astrophysical Journal
Volume:
978
Issue:
1
ISSN:
0004-637X
Page Range / eLocation ID:
110
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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