SN 2014J: HST archival observations do not preclude Recurrent or Classical Nova progenitor system

ATel #5824; S. C. Williams (LJMU), M. J. Darnley (LJMU), D. F. Bersier (LJMU), M. F. Bode (LJMU), P. A. James (LJMU), P. Mazzali (LJMU)
on 28 Jan 2014; 11:21 UT
Credential Certification: Matt Darnley (M.J.Darnley@ljmu.ac.uk)

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We report the initial results of the search for a resolved progenitor of the recent Type Ia supernova in M82 (ATEL #5786), SN 2014J.

Liverpool Telescope (LT; Steele et al. 2004, SPIE, 5490, 679) data taken using the IO:O CCD camera on 2014 January 26.91UT were used to constrain the position of the SN relative to a number of field stars. Following the method outlined in Bode et al. (2009, ApJ, 705, 1056), Darnley et al. (2014, arXiv:1401.2905) and Williams et al. (2014, submitted) we conducted a search for the progenitor system of SN 2014J using archival Hubble Space Telescope (HST) ACS/WFC data (F435W, F555W and F814W) taken on 2006 March 27 (from proposal ID: 10776).

In agreement with preliminary results in ATEL #5789, we find no resolved progenitor candidate coincident with the position of the supernova in any of the ACS/WFC data. We performed photometry on these data using DOPLHOT (Dolphin, 2000, PASP, 112, 1383) and hence derive the following limiting magnitudes F435W>23.3, F555W>23.4 and F814W>24.5 (based on photometry of nearby faint sources).

Recurrent Nova systems, such as RS Oph and T CrB, containing red giant secondaries, and U Sco, which harbours a sub-giant secondary, are a potential progenitor pathway to SN Ia. Assuming a distance to M82 of 3.5±0.3 Mpc (Karachentsev & Kashibadze, 2006, Ap, 49, 3) and either negligible reddening or E(B-V) = 1.2 (ATEL #5818), these upper photometric limits can be compared to a SN2014J.png">distance and extinction corrected SED of known quiescent recurrent novae, including M31N 2008-12a with a one year inter-outburst time (see Darnley et al. (2014, arXiv:1401.2905) for a full explanation of this plot and M31N 2008-12a). Even assuming zero extinction, these limits do not rule out systems similar to any known Galactic or extragalactic recurrent (or fainter classical) novae from being the progenitor of SN 2014J.

We encourage, not only further observations of SN 2014J, but also searches for deep archival images covering the explosion position.

Distance and extinction corrected progenitor SED