A shock flash breaking out of a dusty red supergiant

Gaici Li, Maokai Hu, Wenxiong Li, Yi Yang, Xiaofeng Wang (), Shengyu Yan, Lei Hu, Jujia Zhang, Yiming Mao, Henrik Riise, Xing Gao, Tianrui Sun, Jialian Liu, Dingrong Xiong, Lifan Wang, Jun Mo, Abdusamatjan Iskandar, Gaobo Xi, Danfeng Xiang, Lingzhi Wang, Guoyou Sun, Keming Zhang, Jian Chen, Weili Lin, Fangzhou Guo, Qichun Liu, Guangyao Cai, Wenjie Zhou, Jingyuan Zhao, Jin Chen, Xin Zheng, Keying Li, Mi Zhang, Shijun Xu, Xiaodong Lyu, Alberto J. Castro-Tirado, Vasilii Chufarin, Nikolay Potapov, Ivan Ionov, Stanislav Korotkiy, Sergey Nazarov, Kirill Sokolovsky, Norman Hamann and Eliot Herman
Additional contact information
Gaici Li: Tsinghua University
Maokai Hu: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Wenxiong Li: Tel Aviv University
Yi Yang: University of California
Xiaofeng Wang: Tsinghua University
Shengyu Yan: Tsinghua University
Lei Hu: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Jujia Zhang: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Yiming Mao: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Henrik Riise: Skjeivik Observatory
Xing Gao: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Tianrui Sun: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Jialian Liu: Tsinghua University
Dingrong Xiong: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Lifan Wang: Texas A&M University
Jun Mo: Tsinghua University
Abdusamatjan Iskandar: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Gaobo Xi: Tsinghua University
Danfeng Xiang: Tsinghua University
Lingzhi Wang: National Astronomical Observatories of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Guoyou Sun: Xingming Observatory
Keming Zhang: University of California
Jian Chen: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Weili Lin: Tsinghua University
Fangzhou Guo: Tsinghua University
Qichun Liu: Tsinghua University
Guangyao Cai: Xingming Observatory
Wenjie Zhou: Xingming Observatory
Jingyuan Zhao: Xingming Observatory
Jin Chen: Xingming Observatory
Xin Zheng: Xingming Observatory
Keying Li: Xingming Observatory
Mi Zhang: Xingming Observatory
Shijun Xu: Xingming Observatory
Xiaodong Lyu: Xingming Observatory
Alberto J. Castro-Tirado: Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia (IAA-CSIC)
Vasilii Chufarin: G. M. Grechko Nizhny Novgorod Planetarium
Nikolay Potapov: Ka-Dar/Astroverty
Ivan Ionov: Vedrus Observatory
Stanislav Korotkiy: Ka-Dar/Astroverty
Sergey Nazarov: Crimean Astrophysical Observatory RAS
Kirill Sokolovsky: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Norman Hamann: Trevinca Skies
Eliot Herman: University of Arizona

Nature, 2024, vol. 627, issue 8005, 754-758

Abstract: Abstract Shock-breakout emission is light that arises when a shockwave, generated by the core-collapse explosion of a massive star, passes through its outer envelope. Hitherto, the earliest detection of such a signal was at several hours after the explosion1, although a few others had been reported2–7. The temporal evolution of early light curves should provide insights into the shock propagation, including explosion asymmetry and environment in the vicinity, but this has been hampered by the lack of multiwavelength observations. Here we report the instant multiband observations of a type II supernova (SN 2023ixf) in the galaxy M101 (at a distance of 6.85 ± 0.15 Mpc; ref. 8), beginning at about 1.4 h after the explosion. The exploding star was a red supergiant with a radius of about 440 solar radii. The light curves evolved rapidly, on timescales of 1−2 h, and appeared unusually fainter and redder than predicted by the models9–11 within the first few hours, which we attribute to an optically thick dust shell before it was disrupted by the shockwave. We infer that the breakout and perhaps the distribution of the surrounding dust were not spherically symmetric.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06843-6

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