<p>The abstract of the arXiv preprint <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.04722" rel="nofollow noreferrer">SN 2023ixf in Messier 101: A Variable Red Supergiant as the Progenitor Candidate to a Type II Supernova</a> (itself recently &quot;discovered&quot; <a href="https://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/63767885#63767885">in the observatory</a>) includes:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We interpret this SED as reprocessed emission in a 8600 R⊙ circumstellar shell of dusty material with a mass ∼5×10−5 M⊙ surrounding a log(L/L⊙) = 4.74±0.07 and Teff = 3920+200 −160 K RSG. <strong>This luminosity is consistent with RSG models of initial mass 11 M⊙, depending on assumptions of rotation and overshooting.</strong> In addition, the counterpart was significantly variable in pre-explosion Spitzer 3.6 µm and 4.5 µm imaging, exhibiting ∼70% variability in both bands correlated across 9 yr and 29 epochs of imaging. The variations appear to have a timescale of 2.8 yr, which is consistent with κ-mechanism pulsations observed in RSGs, albeit with a much larger amplitude than RSGs such as α Orionis (Betelgeuse).</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Taken by itself, the initial mass is certainly sufficient that a neutron star or black hole could result, so I'm guessing that <em>one of</em> the astrophysical implications relates to the prediction of what was formed and might be observed in the future.</p>
<p>But there seems to be a lot more astrophysics and stellar evolution being discussed here, so I'd like to ask:</p>
<p><strong>Question:</strong> What are the primary astrophysical implications of a proposed mass of about 11 M⊙ for the SN 2023ixf progenitor?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-06-15T03:18:13.057Z
companion question: [How do they see BOTH "anomalously cool with a significant mid-IR excess" rather than one or the other? (SN 2023ixf progenitor)](https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/q/53979/7982)
uhoh
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-06-15T05:16:56.640Z
I’m not sure if we would be able to *currently* estimate *all* the implications… Science, as you know, has a knack for finding new questions when new data arises…
Pierre Paquette
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-06-15T06:54:54.777Z
@PierrePaquette that's easily address by removing the offending parenthetical and replacing it with "primary"
uhoh
<astrophysics><stellar-evolution><mass><red-giant>
What are the primary astrophysical implications of a proposed mass of about 11 M⊙ for the SN 2023ixf progenitor?
uhoh
# What are the primary astrophysical implications of a proposed mass of about 11 M⊙ for the SN 2023ixf progenitor?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2023-06-15)

The abstract of the arXiv preprint [SN 2023ixf in Messier 101: A Variable Red Supergiant as the Progenitor Candidate to a Type II Supernova](https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.04722) (itself recently "discovered" [in the observatory](https://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/63767885#63767885)) includes:

> We interpret this SED as reprocessed emission in a 8600 R⊙ circumstellar shell of dusty material with a mass ∼5×10−5 M⊙ surrounding a log(L/L⊙) = 4.74±0.07 and Teff = 3920+200 −160 K RSG. **This luminosity is consistent with RSG models of initial mass 11 M⊙, depending on assumptions of rotation and overshooting.** In addition, the counterpart was significantly variable in pre-explosion Spitzer 3.6 µm and 4.5 µm imaging, exhibiting ∼70% variability in both bands correlated across 9 yr and 29 epochs of imaging. The variations appear to have a timescale of 2.8 yr, which is consistent with κ-mechanism pulsations observed in RSGs, albeit with a much larger amplitude than RSGs such as α Orionis (Betelgeuse).

Taken by itself, the initial mass is certainly sufficient that a neutron star or black hole could result, so I'm guessing that *one of* the astrophysical implications relates to the prediction of what was formed and might be observed in the future.

But there seems to be a lot more astrophysics and stellar evolution being discussed here, so I'd like to ask:

**Question:** What are the primary astrophysical implications of a proposed mass of about 11 M⊙ for the SN 2023ixf progenitor?

**Tags:** astrophysics, stellar-evolution, mass, red-giant

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: companion question: [How do they see BOTH "anomalously cool with a significant mid-IR excess" rather than one or the other? (SN 2023ixf progenitor)](https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/q/53979/7982)  
> **username_1**: I’m not sure if we would be able to *currently* estimate *all* the implications… Science, as you know, has a knack for finding new questions when new data arises…  
> **username_0**: @PierrePaquette that's easily address by removing the offending parenthetical and replacing it with "primary"  

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## 0 answers

