Red Supergiant problem viewed from the nebular phase spectroscopy of type II supernovae

2025/04/20 by Fang, Qiliang, Moriya, Takashi J., Maeda, Keiichi · 8 citations
#FOS: Physical sciences #High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE)

paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2504.14502

Abstract

The red supergiant (RSG) problem refers to the observed dearth of luminous RSGs identified as progenitors of Type II supernovae (SNe II) in pre-SN imaging. Understanding this phenomenon is essential for studying pre-SN mass loss and the explodability of core-collapse SNe. In this work, we re-assess the RSG problem using late-phase spectroscopy of a sample of 50 SNe II. The [O I] λλ6300,6363 emission in the spectra is employed to infer the zero-age main sequence (ZAMS) mass distribution of the progenitors, which is then transformed into a luminosity distribution via an observation-calibrated mass-luminosity relation. The resulting luminosity distribution reveals an upper cutoff at log L/L_\odot = 5.21^+0.09_-0.07 dex, and the RSG problem is statistically significant at the 2σ to 3σ level. Assuming single RSG progenitors that follow the mass-luminosity relation of KEPLER models, this luminosity cutoff corresponds to an upper ZAMS mass limit of 20.63^+2.42_-1.64 M_\odot. Comparisons with independent measurements, including pre-SN imaging and plateau-phase light curve modeling, consistently yield an upper ZAMS mass limit below about 25 M_\odot, with a significance level of 1-3σ. While each individual method provides only marginal significance, the consistency across multiple methodologies suggests that the lack of luminous RSG progenitors may reflect a genuine physical problem. Finally, we discuss several scenarios to account for this issue should it be confirmed as a true manifestation of stellar physics.

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