Radio Detection of Supernova 2004ip in the Circumnuclear Region of the Luminous Infrared Galaxy IRAS 18293-3413

TL;DR

This paper reports the radio detection of supernova SN 2004ip in a luminous infrared galaxy, confirming its core-collapse nature and providing insights into its progenitor and interaction with the surrounding medium.

Contribution

First radio detection of SN 2004ip confirming its core-collapse type and characterizing its luminosity and proximity to the galaxy nucleus.

Findings

SN 2004ip is a core-collapse supernova, likely Type II.

It has a high radio luminosity of 3.5E27 erg/s/Hz.

Located about 500 pc from the galaxy nucleus, it is among the brightest and closest radio supernovae.

Abstract

We report a radio detection of supernova SN 2004ip in the circumnuclear region of the luminous infrared galaxy IRAS 18293-3413, using Very Large Array (VLA) observations at 8.4 GHz on 11 June 2007. SN 2004ip had been previously discovered at near-infrared wavelengths using adaptive optics observations, but its nature (core-collapse or thermonuclear) could not be definitely established. Our radio detection, about three years after the explosion of the supernova, indicates a prominent interaction of the ejecta of SN 2004ip with the circumstellar medium, confirming that the supernova was a core-collapse event (probably Type II), and thus strongly suggesting that its progenitor was a massive star with a significant mass-loss prior to its explosion. SN 2004ip has a 8.4 GHz luminosity of 3.5E27 erg/s/Hz, about twice as bright as SN 2000ft in NGC 7469 at a similar age, and given its projected distance to the nucleus (~500 pc), is one of the closest of all known radio SNe to a galaxy nucleus, and one of the brightest radio SNe ever.