Discovery of a variable yellow supergiant progenitor for the Type IIb SN 2024abfo

2025/04/29 by Zexi Niu, Ning-Chen Sun, Niu, Zexi +11 · 3 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA) #CCD and CMOS Imaging Sensors #FOS: Physical sciences #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE) #Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2504.20407

openalex publication_date 2025/04/29 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

We report the discovery of a progenitor candidate for the Type~IIb SN2024abfo using multi-epoch pre-explosion images from the Hubble Space Telescope and the Dark Energy Camera Legacy Survey. The progenitor exhibited a ~0.7 mag decline in F814W from 2001 to 2013, followed by significant brightening and color fluctuations in the g, r and z bands. This is the first time that substantial photometric variability has been found for the progenitor of a SN IIb. We suggest that the variability is caused by intrinsic changes in the progenitor star instead of varying obscuration by circumstellar dust. Our results show that the progenitor of SN2024abfo was likely a yellow supergiant star with an initial mass of 12--18 Msun for circumstellar reddening of E(B-V)_CSM < 0.2 mag. Our study underscores the critical role of multi-epoch imaging surveys in revealing the final stages of core-collapse supernovae progenitors.

Cited by

• SN 2024aecx: a fast-evolving Type IIb supernova with a prominent shock-cooling peak
• Type IIb Supernova Progenitors in 3D: Variability and Episodic Mass Loss revealed by Radiation-Hydrodynamics Simulations
• Red Supergiant Mass Loss and Mass-Loss Rates

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