A binary merger product as the direct progenitor of a Type II-P supernova

A binary merger product as the direct progenitor of a Type II-P supernova | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Physical Sciences - Article A binary merger product as the direct progenitor of a Type II-P supernova Zexi Niu*, Ning-Chen Sun*, Emmanouil Zapartas*, Dimitris Souropanis, and 14 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5641756/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Type II-P supernovae (SNe II-P) are the most common type of core-collapse SNe in the local Universe. The progenitors of SNe II-P have been directly observed in fortuitous pre-explosion images with effective temperatures and luminosities consistent with red supergiants (RSGs). For a long time such RSGs were believed to originate from single stars. Recent binary population synthesis, however, predict that many observed SNe II-P should actually arise from interacting binaries. This binary progenitor channel still lacks observational evidence since it is difficult to distinguish whether a detected progenitor comes from the single or binary star system simply based on its appearance in pre-explosion images. In this work, we report the discovery of a RSG progenitor of the Type II-P SN 2018gj. While the effective temperature and luminosity are similar to those of other SN II-P progenitors, it is located in a very old environment and the short plateau of the SN light curve suggests a very low-mass H-rich envelope. These characteristics are best explained if the progenitor is the merger product of a close binary system, in which the progenitor increased its He-core mass but lost much of its H-rich envelope during the back-and-forth mass transfer with a binary companion before merging. Similar analysis for a sample of nearby SNe II-P shows that at least 18–24% of them are likely to originate from binary progenitors. Our discovery provides the first compelling observational evidence that interacting binaries are a viable and potentially significant channel for SN II-P progenitors. *These authors contributed equally: Zexi Niu, Ning-Chen Sun, Emmanouil Zapartas. Physical sciences/Astronomy and planetary science/Astronomy and astrophysics/Transient astrophysical phenomena Physical sciences/Astronomy and planetary science/Astronomy and astrophysics/Stellar evolution Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-5641756","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Physical Sciences - Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":390764847,"identity":"e8e6048d-8fc8-49de-b18b-ea6c1cf5bcd7","order_by":0,"name":"Zexi Niu*","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3651-0681","institution":"School of Astronomy and Space Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, People’s Republic of China; National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, People’s Republic of China","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Zexi","middleName":"","lastName":"Niu*","suffix":""},{"id":390764846,"identity":"b0b6ac98-697e-43a1-8425-af3330fbcca0","order_by":1,"name":"Ning-Chen Sun*","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAArklEQVRIiWNgGAWjYNCCCtK1nCFZB2MbKarlZ+Qee/Bz3mF5/v4DjB9+MNjlEdRicCMv3bB322HDGTcSmCV7GJKLCWuRyDGTZtx2OIHhBgODNAPDgcQGwg4DaZlzOEH+/AHm30RpYbgB0tJwOMHgQAIbcbYYnHljJtlzLN1w443ENsseg2QiHNaeYybxo8ZaXu784cM3flTYEeEwBGAEKjYgQf0oGAWjYBSMAtwAAFScOFfQMFbhAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"School of Astronomy and Space Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, People’s Republic of China; National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, People’s Republic of China; Institute for Frontiers in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 102206, People’s Republic of China","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ning-Chen","middleName":"","lastName":"Sun*","suffix":""},{"id":390764848,"identity":"7b6260d0-3945-46a5-aa35-9a7b96f813f3","order_by":2,"name":"Emmanouil Zapartas*","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7464-498X","institution":"Institute of Astrophysics, Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas, GR-71110 Heraklion, Greece","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Emmanouil","middleName":"","lastName":"Zapartas*","suffix":""},{"id":390764849,"identity":"7757b0ab-b465-4283-a166-63e304af4dd0","order_by":3,"name":"Dimitris Souropanis","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Institute of Astrophysics, Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas, GR-71110 Heraklion, Greece","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Dimitris","middleName":"","lastName":"Souropanis","suffix":""},{"id":390764850,"identity":"21599721-f522-4b65-9036-e956e8ffadee","order_by":4,"name":"Yingzhen Cui","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, People’s Republic of China","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yingzhen","middleName":"","lastName":"Cui","suffix":""},{"id":390764851,"identity":"9442c8d0-25e8-4ce9-bca5-d77636bb7e28","order_by":5,"name":"Justyn R. 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The progenitors of SNe II-P have been directly observed in fortuitous pre-explosion images with effective temperatures and luminosities consistent with red supergiants (RSGs). For a long time such RSGs were believed to originate from single stars. Recent binary population synthesis, however, predict that many observed SNe II-P should actually arise from interacting binaries. This binary progenitor channel still lacks observational evidence since it is difficult to distinguish whether a detected progenitor comes from the single or binary star system simply based on its appearance in pre-explosion images. In this work, we report the discovery of a RSG progenitor of the Type II-P SN 2018gj. While the effective temperature and luminosity are similar to those of other SN II-P progenitors, it is located in a very old environment and the short plateau of the SN light curve suggests a very low-mass H-rich envelope. 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