The X-Ray Luminous Type Ibn SN 2022ablq: Estimates of Preexplosion Mass Loss and Constraints on Precursor Emission

Abstract

Type Ibn supernovae (SNe Ibn) are rare stellar explosions powered primarily by interaction between the SN ejecta and H-poor, He-rich material lost by their progenitor stars. Multiwavelength observations, particularly in the X-rays, of SNe Ibn constrain their poorly understood progenitor channels and mass-loss mechanisms. Here we present Swift X-ray, ultraviolet, and ground-based optical observations of the Type Ibn SN 2022ablq, only the second SN Ibn with X-ray detections to date. While similar to the prototypical Type Ibn SN 2006jc in the optical, SN 2022ablq is roughly an order of magnitude more luminous in the X-rays, reaching unabsorbed luminosities L X ∼ 4 × 1040 erg s−1 between 0.2–10 keV. From these X-ray observations we infer time-varying mass-loss rates between 0.05 and 0.5 M ⊙ yr−1 peaking 0.5–2 yr before explosion. This complex mass-loss history and circumstellar environment disfavor steady-state winds as the primary progenitor mass-loss mechanism. We also search for precursor emission from alternative mass-loss mechanisms, such as eruptive outbursts, in forced photometry during the 2 yr before explosion. We find no statistically significant detections brighter than M ≈ −14—too shallow to rule out precursor events similar to those observed for other SNe Ibn. Finally, numerical models of the explosion of an ∼15 M ⊙ helium star that undergoes an eruptive outburst ≈1.8 yr before explosion are consistent with the observed bolometric light curve. We conclude that our observations disfavor a Wolf–Rayet star progenitor losing He-rich material via stellar winds and instead favor lower-mass progenitor models, including Roche-lobe overflow in helium stars with compact binary companions or stars that undergo eruptive outbursts during late-stage nucleosynthesis stages.