EVIDENCE FOR PRE-EXISTING DUST IN THE BRIGHT TYPE IIn SN 2010jl

Abstract

SN 2010jl was an extremely bright, Type IIn SNe which showed a significant IR\nexcess no later than 90 days after explosion. We have obtained Spitzer 3.6 and\n4.5 \\mum and JHK observations of SN 2010jl \\sim90 days post explosion. Little\nto no reddening in the host galaxy indicated that the circumstellar material\nlost from the progenitor must lie in a torus inclined out of the plane of the\nsky. The likely cause of the high mid-IR flux is the reprocessing of the\ninitial flash of the SN by pre-existing circumstellar dust. Using a 3D Monte\nCarlo Radiative Transfer code, we have estimated that between 0.03-0.35 Msun of\ndust exists in a circumstellar torus around the SN located 6 \\times 10 ^17 cm\naway from the SN and inclined between 60-80\\cdot to the plane of the sky. On\nday 90, we are only seeing the illumination of approximately 5% of this torus,\nand expect to see an elevated IR flux from this material up until day \\sim 450.\nIt is likely this dust was created in an LBV-like mass loss event of more than\n3 Msun, which is large but consistent with other LBV progenitors such as {\\eta}\nCarinae.\n