Evidence for Pre-Existing Dust in the Bright Type IIn SN 2010jl

TL;DR

This study provides evidence that pre-existing circumstellar dust around SN 2010jl, likely formed during an LBV-like mass loss event, causes the observed IR excess and influences the supernova's IR emission over time.

Contribution

The paper demonstrates the presence of a substantial pre-existing dust torus around SN 2010jl using radiative transfer modeling, revealing dust mass, geometry, and origin in an LBV-like eruption.

Findings

Approximately 0.03-0.35 solar masses of dust in a torus around SN 2010jl.

The dust is located about 6 x 10^17 cm from the supernova.

IR flux from the dust will be elevated until about day 450.

Abstract

SN 2010jl was an extremely bright, Type IIn SNe which showed a significant IR excess no later than 90 days after explosion. We have obtained Spitzer 3.6 and 4.5 \mum and JHK observations of SN 2010jl \sim90 days post explosion. Little to no reddening in the host galaxy indicated that the circumstellar material lost from the progenitor must lie in a torus inclined out of the plane of the sky. The likely cause of the high mid-IR flux is the reprocessing of the initial flash of the SN by pre-existing circumstellar dust. Using a 3D Monte Carlo Radiative Transfer code, we have estimated that between 0.03-0.35 Msun of dust exists in a circumstellar torus around the SN located 6 \times 10 ^17 cm away from the SN and inclined between 60-80\cdot to the plane of the sky. On day 90, we are only seeing the illumination of approximately 5% of this torus, and expect to see an elevated IR flux from this material up until day \sim 450. It is likely this dust was created in an LBV-like mass loss event of more than 3 Msun, which is large but consistent with other LBV progenitors such as {\eta} Carinae.