Measurement of the core-collapse progenitor mass distribution of the Small Magellanic Cloud.
2018
The physics of core-collapse (CC) supernovae (SNe) and how the explosions depend on
progenitorproperties are central questions in astronomy. For only a handful of SNe, the
progenitorstar has been identified in pre-explosion images.
Supernova remnants(SNRs), which are observed long after the original SN event, provide a unique opportunity to increase the number of
progenitormeasurements. Here, we systematically examine the
stellar populationsin the vicinities of 23 known SNRs in the
Small Magellanic Cloud(SMC) using the star formation history (SFH) maps of Harris & Zaritsky (2004). We combine the results with constraints on the SNR metal abundances and environment from X-ray and optical observations. We find that 22 SNRs in the SMC have local SFHs and properties consistent with a CC explosion, several of which are likely to have been high-mass
progenitors. This result supports recent theoretical findings that high-mass
progenitorscan produce successful explosions. We estimate the
mass distributionof the CC
progenitorsand find that this distribution is similar to a Salpeter IMF (within the uncertainties), while this result is shallower than the
mass distributionfound in M31 and M33 by Jennings et al. (2014) and D\'{\i}az-Rodr\'{\i}guez et al. (2018) using a similar approach. Additionally, we find that a number of the SMC SNRs exhibit a burst of star formation between 50-200 Myr ago. As these sources are likely CC, this signature may be indicative of massive stars undergoing delayed CC as a consequence of binary interaction, rapid rotation, or low metallicity. In addition, the lack of Type Ia SNRs in the SMC is possibly a result of the short visibility times of these sources as they may fall below the sensitivity limits of current radio observations.
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