Serendipitous detection of the dusty Type IIL SN 1980K with JWST/MIRI

March 2024 • 2024MNRAS.529..155Z

Authors • Zsíros, Szanna • Szalai, Tamás • De Looze, Ilse • Sarangi, Arkaprabha • Shahbandeh, Melissa • Fox, Ori D. • Temim, Tea • Milisavljevic, Dan • Van Dyk, Schuyler D. • Smith, Nathan • Filippenko, Alexei V. • Brink, Thomas G. • Zheng, WeiKang • Dessart, Luc • Jencson, Jacob • Johansson, Joel • Pierel, Justin • Rest, Armin • Tinyanont, Samaporn • Niculescu-Duvaz, Maria • Barlow, M. J. • Wesson, Roger • Andrews, Jennifer • Clayton, Geoff • De, Kishalay • Dwek, Eli • Engesser, Michael • Foley, Ryan J. • Gezari, Suvi • Gomez, Sebastian • Gonzaga, Shireen • Kasliwal, Mansi • Lau, Ryan • Marston, Anthony • O'Steen, Richard • Siebert, Matthew • Skrutskie, Michael • Strolger, Lou • Wang, Qinan • Williams, Brian • Williams, Robert • Xiao, Lin

Abstract • We present mid-infrared (mid-IR) imaging of the Type IIL supernova (SN) 1980K with the JWST more than 40 yr post-explosion. SN 1980K, located in the nearby (D ≈ 7 Mpc) 'SN factory' galaxy NGC 6946, was serendipitously captured in JWST/MIRI images taken of the field of SN 2004et in the same galaxy. SN 1980K serves as a promising candidate for studying the transitional phase between young SNe and older SN remnants and also provides a great opportunity to investigate its the close environment. SN 1980K can be identified as a clear and bright point source in all eight MIRI filters from F560W up to F2550W. We fit analytical dust models to the mid-IR spectral energy distribution that reveal a large amount (M_d ≈ 0.002 M_⊙) of Si-dominated dust at $T_\rm {dust}\approx 150$ K (accompanied by a hotter dust/gas component), and also computed numerical SED dust models. Radiative transfer modelling of a late-time optical spectrum obtained recently with Keck discloses that an even larger (~0.24-0.58 M_⊙) amount of dust is needed in order for selective extinction to explain the asymmetric line profile shapes observed in SN 1980K. As a conclusion, with JWST, we may see i) pre-existing circumstellar dust heated collisionally (or, partly radiatively), analogous to the equatorial ring of SN 1987A, or ii) the mid-IR component of the presumed newly-formed dust, accompanied by much more colder dust present in the ejecta (as suggested by the late-time the optical spectra).

Links

• PDF https://academic.oup.com/mnras/pdf-lookup/doi/10.1093/mnras/stae507
• PREPRINT http://arxiv.org/abs/2310.03448
• ELECTR https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fmnras%2Fstae507