Submitted on May 13, 2008
Accepted on May 30, 2008
Supernova Shock Breakout from a Red Supergiant
Kevin Schawinski 1*, Stephen Justham 1*, Christian Wolf 1*, Philipp Podsiadlowski 1, Mark Sullivan 1, Katrien C. Steenbrugge 2, Tony Bell 1, Hermann-Josef Röser 3, Emma S. Walker 1, Pierre Astier 4, Dave Balam 5, Christophe Balland 4, Ray Carlberg 6, Alex Conley 6, Dominique Fouchez 7, Julien Guy 4, Delphine Hardin 4, Isobel Hook 1, D. Andrew Howell 6, Reynald Pain 4, Kathy Perrett 6, Chris Pritchet 5, Nicolas Regnault 4, Sukyoung K. Yi 8
1 Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3RH, UK.
2 St John’s College Research Centre, University of Oxford, OX1 3JP, UK.
3 Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Königstuhl 17, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.
4 LPHNE, CNRS-IN2P3 and Universités Paris VI & VII, 4 Place Jussieu, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France.
5 Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Victoria, PO Box 3055 STN CSC, Victoria, BC V8T 3P6, Canada.
6 Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Toronto, 50 St. George Street, Toronto, ON M5S 3H4, Canada.
7 CPPM, CNRS-IN2P3 and Université Aix-Marseille II, Case 907, 13288 Marseille Cedex 9, France.
8 Department of Astronomy, Yonsei University, Seoul 120-749, Korea.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Kevin Schawinski , E-mail: kevins{at}astro.ox.ac.uk
Stephen Justham , E-mail: sjustham{at}astro.ox.ac.uk
Christian Wolf , E-mail: cwolf{at}astro.ox.ac.uk
Massive stars undergo a violent death when the supply of nuclear fuel in their cores is exhausted, resulting in a catastrophic "core-collapse" supernova. Such events are usually only detected at least a few days after the star has exploded. Observations of the supernova SNLS-04D2dc with the GALEX space telescope reveal a radiative precursor from the supernova shock before the shock reached the surface of the star and show the initial expansion of the star at the beginning of the explosion. Theoretical models of the ultraviolet light curve confirm that the progenitor was a red supergiant, as expected for this type of supernova. These observations provide a novel way to probe the physics of core-collapse supernovae and the internal structures of their progenitor stars.
