Success Through Failure: The Search for Failed (and Successful) Supernovae
| Program ID | 19048 |
|---|---|
| Science Category | Stellar Physics |
| Program Type | Analysis |
| Category | Medium |
| Principal Investigator | Ryan Foley |
| PI Institution | University of California, Santa Cruz |
| Co-Investigators |
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| Abstract | Theory robustly predicts that some massive stars collapse to a black hole without a luminous supernova (SN). The mass distribution of progenitor stars found in pre-explosion images suggests there could be an upper-mass limit for SN production of ~18 M_sun. Combined with the IMF, this implies ~1/4 of all massive stars collapse without a SN. This number is consistent with the rate from a survey that detected a massive, evolved star in NGC 6964 that appears to have disappeared in 2009. However, re-analysis of the previous data and new observations raise questions about the existence of a mass limit and the interpretation of the disappearing star as a failed SN. The fundamental questions of which stars explode and what compact objects they produce is perhaps the most important and far reaching within transient astrophysics. The answers will impact our understanding of nucleosynthesis, gravitational wave sources, the black hole mass function, and galactic feedback. We propose to examine all nearby galaxies observed by Roman twice on different epochs in the same filter or at least once with Roman and once with another space-based facility in similar filters. We expect this sample to be ~1000 galaxies within the first two years of the mission. If current predictions are correct, we expect to detect ~6 failed SNe and ~36 SNe with progenitor stars. Detecting no failed SNe would require all massive stars with M_ZAMS < 26 M_sun to explode, inconsistent with the SN progenitor population. This program will either detect multiple failed SNe, which will constrain current stellar evolution and SN models or it will require a serious re-examination of these areas that we currently consider "solved." As such, this program will directly address the largest open problem in transient science and stellar evolution. |