High mass of the type IIP supernova 2004et inferred from hydrodynamic modeling

Abstract

<i>Context. <i/>Previous studies of type IIP supernovae have inferred that progenitor masses recovered from hydrodynamic models are higher than 15 .<i>Aims. <i/>To verify the progenitor mass of this supernova category, we attempt a parameter determination of the well-observed luminous type IIP supernova 2004et.<i>Methods. <i/>We model the bolometric light curve and the photospheric velocities of SN 2004et by means of hydrodynamic simulations in an extended parameter space.<i>Results. <i/>From hydrodynamic simulations and observational data, we infer a presupernova radius of 1500 <i>±<i/> 140 , an ejecta mass of 24.5 <i>±<i/> 1 , an explosion energy of (2.3<i>±<i/>0.3) 10<sup>51<sup/> erg, and a radioactive <sup>56<sup/>Ni mass of 0.068 <i>±<i/> 0.009 . The estimated progenitor mass on the main sequence is in the range of 25-29 . In addition, we find clear signatures of the explosion asymmetry in the nebular spectra of SN 2004et.<i>Conclusions. <i/>The measured progenitor mass of SN 2004et is significantly higher than the progenitor mass suggested by the pre-explosion images. We speculate that the mass inferred from hydrodynamic modeling is overestimated and crucial missing factors are multi-dimensional effects.