A young stellar environment for the superluminous supernova PTF12dam

TL;DR

This study investigates the environment of the superluminous supernova PTF12dam, revealing a very young, massive progenitor star in a starburst galaxy with specific metallicity, enhancing understanding of SLSN origins.

Contribution

It provides the first resolved environmental analysis of PTF12dam's host galaxy, linking a young stellar population to the supernova progenitor.

Findings

Progenitor star was at least 60 solar masses.

SN occurred in a ~3 Myr old star-forming region.

Host galaxy experienced a recent starburst.

Abstract

The progenitors of super luminous supernovae (SLSNe) are still a mystery. Hydrogen-poor SLSN hosts are often highly star-forming dwarf galaxies and the majority belongs to the class of extreme emission line galaxies hosting young and highly star-forming stellar populations. Here we present a resolved long-slit study of the host of the hydrogen-poor SLSN PTF12dam probing the kpc environment of the SN site to determine the age of the progenitor. The galaxy is a "tadpole" with uniform properties and the SN occurred in a star-forming region in the head of the tadpole. The galaxy experienced a recent star-burst superimposed on an underlying old stellar population. We measure a very young stellar population at the SN site with an age of ~3 Myr and a metallicity of 12+log(O/H)=8.0 at the SN site but do not observe any WR features. The progenitor of PTF12dam must have been a massive star of at least 60 M_solar and one of the first stars exploding as a SN in this extremely young starburst.