Progenitors of core-collapse supernovae

Understand

Knowledge of the progenitors of core-collapse supernovae is a fundamental component in understanding the explosions.

• The recent progress in finding such stars is reviewed.
• The minimum initial mass that can produce a supernova has converged to 8 +/- 1 solar masses, from direct detections of red supergiant progenitors of II-P SNe and the most massive white dwarf progenitors, although this value is model dependent.
• It appears that most type Ibc supernovae arise from moderate mass interacting binaries.