Hubble Space Telescope imaging of the progenitor sites of six nearby core-collapse supernovae

The search for the progenitors of six core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe) in archival Hubble Space Telescope ( HST ) WFPC2 pre-explosion imaging is presented. These SNe are 1999an, 1999br, 1999ev, 2000ds, 2000ew and 2001B. Post-explosion imaging of the SNe, with the HST ACS/WFC, has been utilized with the technique of differential astrometry to identify the progenitor locations on the pre-explosion imaging. SNe 1999br, 1999ev, 2000ew and 2001B are recovered in late-time imaging, and estimates of the progenitor locations on the pre-explosion imaging, with subpixel accuracy, have been made. Only the progenitor of the Type II-P SN 1999ev has been recovered, on pre-explosion F555W imaging, at a 4.8σ significance level. Assuming a red supergiant progenitor, the pre-explosion observation is consistent with   M _ZAMS= 15–18 M_⊙  . The progenitors of the other five SNe were below the 3σ detection threshold of the pre-explosion observations. The detection thresholds were translated to mass limits for the progenitors by comparison with stellar evolution models. Pre-explosion observations of the peculiarly faint SN 1999br limit the mass of a red supergiant progenitor to   M _ZAMS < 12 M_⊙  . Analysis has been extended, from previous studies, to include possible detections of high- T _eff, high-mass stars by conducting synthetic photometry of model Wolf–Rayet star spectra. The mass limits for the Type II-P SNe 1999an and 1999br are consistent with previously determined mass limits for this type of SN. The detection limits for the progenitors of the Type Ibc SNe (2000ds, 2000ew and 2001B) do not permit differentiation between high-mass Wolf–Rayet progenitors or low-mass progenitors in binaries.     

Model atmosphere and kinematical analyses of early-type stars from the Edinburgh–Cape Survey

We present high-resolution spectroscopic observations of 21 B-type stars, selected from the Edinburgh–Cape Blue Object Survey. Model atmosphere analyses confirm that 14 of these stars are young, main-sequence B-type objects with Population I chemical compositions. The remaining seven are found to be evolved objects, including subdwarfs, horizontal branch and post-AGB objects. A kinematical analysis shows that all 14 young main-sequence stars could have formed in the disc and subsequently been ejected into the halo. These results are combined with the analysis of a previous subsample of stars taken from the Survey. Of the complete sample, 31 have been found to be young, main-sequence objects, with formation in the disc, and subsequent ejection into the halo, again being found to be a plausible scenario.     

An XMM–Newton observation of the neutron star X-ray transient 2S 1803−245 in quiescence

We observed the neutron star X-ray transient 2S 1803−245 in quiescence with the X-ray satellite XMM–Newton , but did not detect it. An analysis of the X-ray bursts observed during the 1998 outburst of 2S 1803−245 gives an upper limit to the distance of ≤7.3 kpc, leading to an upper limit on the quiescent 0.5–10 keV X-ray luminosity of  ≤2.8 × 10³² erg s⁻¹  (3σ). Since the expected orbital period of 2S 1803−245 is several hours, this limit is not much higher than those observed for the quiescent black hole transients with similar orbital periods.     

The swallowing of a quark star by a black hole

In three-dimensional smooth particle hydrodynamic simulations of the coalescence of a quark star with a pseudo-Newtonian black hole all of the quark matter is quickly accreted by the black hole. The Madsen–Caldwell–Friedman argument against the existence of quark stars may need to be re-examined.