title: An outburst from a massive star 40 days before a supernova explosion.
abstract: Some observations suggest that very massive stars experience extreme mass-loss episodes shortly before they explode as supernovae, as do several models. Establishing a causal connection between these mass-loss episodes and the final explosion would provide a novel way to study pre-supernova massive-star evolution. Here we report observations of a mass-loss event detected 40 days before the explosion of the type IIn supernova SN 2010mc (also known as PTF 10tel). Our photometric and spectroscopic data suggest that this event is a result of an energetic outburst, radiating at least 6 × 10(47) erg of energy and releasing about 10(-2) solar masses of material at typical velocities of 2,000 km s(-1). The temporal proximity of the mass-loss outburst and the supernova explosion implies a causal connection between them. Moreover, we find that the outburst luminosity and velocity are consistent with the predictions of the wave-driven pulsation model, and disfavour alternative suggestions.
authors: Benoziyo Center for Astrophysics, Weizmann Institute of Science, 76100 Rehovot, Israel. eran@astro.caltech.edu
authors: E O
authors: EO
authors: Ofek
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Sullivan
authors: S B
authors: SB
authors: Cenko
authors: M M
authors: MM
authors: Kasliwal
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Gal-Yam
authors: S R
authors: SR
authors: Kulkarni
authors: I
authors: I
authors: Arcavi
authors: L
authors: L
authors: Bildsten
authors: J S
authors: JS
authors: Bloom
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Horesh
authors: D A
authors: DA
authors: Howell
authors: A V
authors: AV
authors: Filippenko
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Laher
authors: D
authors: D
authors: Murray
authors: E
authors: E
authors: Nakar
authors: P E
authors: PE
authors: Nugent
authors: J M
authors: JM
authors: Silverman
authors: N J
authors: NJ
authors: Shaviv
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Surace
authors: O
authors: O
authors: Yaron
references: Nature. 2007 Nov 15;450(7168):390-2
references: 18004378
references: Nature. 2009 Apr 16;458(7240):865-7
references: 19305392
references: Nature. 2011 Jun 08;474(7352):487-9
references: 21654747