* Astronomy

Title: iPTF 13bvn: The First Evidence of a Binary Progenitor for a Type Ib Supernova
Author: Melina C. Bersten, Omar G. Benvenuto, Gaston Folatelli, Ken'ichi Nomoto, Hanindyo Kuncarayakti, Shubham Srivastav, G.C. Anupama, Robert Quimby, Devendra K. Sahu

The recent detection in archival HST images of an object at the the location of supernova (SN) iPTF~13bvn may represent the first direct evidence of the progenitor of a Type~Ib SN. The object's photometry was found to be compatible with a Wolf-Rayet pre-SN star mass of ~11 Msun. However, based on hydrodynamical models we show that the progenitor had a pre-SN mass of ~3.5 Msun and that it could not be larger than ~8 Msun. We propose an interacting binary system as the SN progenitor and perform evolutionary calculations that are able to self-consistently explain the light-curve shape, the absence of hydrogen, and the pre-SN photometry. We further discuss the range of allowed binary systems and predict that the remaining companion is a luminous O-type star of significantly lower flux in the optical than the pre-SN object. A future detection of such star may be possible and would provide the first robust progenitor identification for a Type-Ib SN.

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