Discovery of Two Supernovae in the Nuclear Regions of the Luminous Infrared Galaxy IC 883

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery of two supernovae in the nuclear region of galaxy IC 883 using near-infrared adaptive optics, marking the closest supernovae observed near a luminous infrared galaxy's nucleus.

Contribution

It presents the first near-infrared adaptive optics detection of supernovae very close to a LIRG nucleus, demonstrating the effectiveness of this method for such observations.

Findings

Both supernovae are consistent with core-collapse events.

The supernovae exhibit low host galaxy extinction.

They are the closest supernovae to a LIRG nucleus observed in optical or near-infrared.

Abstract

We report the discovery of two consecutive supernovae (SNe), 2010cu and 2011hi, located at 0.37" (180 pc) and 0.79" (380 pc) projected distance respectively from the centre of the K-band nucleus of the luminous infrared galaxy IC 883. The SNe were discovered in an ongoing near-infrared K-band search for core-collapse SNe in such galaxies using the ALTAIR/NIRI adaptive optics system with laser guide star at the Gemini-North Telescope. These are thus the closest SNe yet discovered to a LIRG nucleus in optical or near-infrared wavelengths. The near-infrared light curves and colours of both SNe are consistent with core-collapse events. Both SNe seem to suffer from relatively low host galaxy extinction suggesting that regardless of their low projected galactocentric distances, they are not deeply buried in the nuclear regions of the host galaxy.