Evolutionary Models for Type Ib/c Supernova Progenitors

TL;DR

This paper reviews evolutionary models for Type Ib/c supernova progenitors, emphasizing the roles of single and binary star evolution, and highlights the importance of observations to refine theoretical understanding.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive review of models for SN Ib/c progenitors, comparing single and binary evolution scenarios with recent observational data.

Findings

Binary evolution models explain ejecta masses and progenitor magnitudes.

Progenitor nature differs significantly between single and binary systems.

Early observations and metallicity studies are crucial for constraining models.

Abstract

Type Ib/c supernovae (SNe Ib/c) mark the deaths of hydrogen-deficient massive stars. The evolutionary scenarios for SNe Ib/c progenitors involve many important physical processes including mass loss by winds and its metallicity dependence, stellar rotation, and binary interactions. This makes SNe Ib/c an excellent test bed for stellar evolution theory. We review the main results of evolutionary models for SN Ib/c progenitors available in the literature and their confrontation with recent observations. We argue that the nature of SN Ib/c progenitors can be significantly different for single and binary systems, and that binary evolution models can explain the ejecta masses derived from SN Ib/c light curves, the distribution of SN Ib/c sites in their host galaxies, and the optical magnitudes of the tentative progenitor candidate of iPTF13bvn. We emphasize the importance of early-time observations of light curves and spectra, accurate measurements of helium mass in SN Ib/c ejecta, and systematic studies about the metallicity dependence of SN Ib/c properties, to better constrain theories.