Uncovering the Putative B-Star Binary Companion of the SN 1993J Progenitor

TL;DR

This study uses HST observations to investigate the suspected hot B-star companion of SN 1993J, aiming to confirm the binary progenitor model by analyzing UV spectra after the supernova faded.

Contribution

It provides new UV spectral data from 2012 that supports the presence of a hot B star companion, testing the binary progenitor hypothesis for SN 1993J.

Findings

UV spectrum consistent with a hot B star and SN

Detection of potential UV excess from the companion

Supports binary progenitor model for SN 1993J

Abstract

The Type IIb supernova (SN) 1993J is one of only a few stripped-envelope supernovae with a progenitor star identified in pre-explosion images. SN IIb models typically invoke H envelope stripping by mass transfer in a binary system. For the case of SN 1993J, the models suggest that the companion grew to 22 M_solar and became a source of ultraviolet (UV) excess. Located in M81, at a distance of only 3.6 Mpc, SN 1993J offers one of the best opportunities to detect the putative companion and test the progenitor model. Previously published near-UV spectra in 2004 showed evidence for absorption lines consistent with a hot (B2 Ia) star, but the field was crowded and dominated by flux from the SN. Here we present Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) and Wide-Field Camera 3 (WFC3) observations of SN 1993J from 2012, at which point the flux from the SN had faded sufficiently to potentially measure the UV continuum properties from the putative companion. The resulting UV spectrum is consistent with contributions from both a hot B star and the SN, although we cannot rule out line-of-sight coincidences.