We report the results of a high-spatial-resolution search for the progenitor of type Ic supernova SN 2004gt , using the newly commissioned Keck laser-guide star adaptive optics system ( LGSAO ) along with archival Hubble Space Telescope data .
This is the deepest search yet performed for the progenitor of any type Ib/c event in a wide wavelength range stretching from the far UV to the near IR .
We determine that the progenitor of SN 2004gt was most likely less luminous than M _ { V } = -5.5 and M _ { B } = -6.5 magnitudes .
The massive stars exploding as hydrogen-deficient core-collapse supernovae ( SNe ) should have lost their outer hydrogen envelopes prior to their explosion , either through winds – such stars are identified within our Galaxy as as Wolf-Rayet ( W-R ) stars – or to a binary companion .
The luminosity limits we set rule out more than half of the known galactic W-R stars as possible progenitors of this event .
In particular , they imply that a W-R progenitor should have been among the more-evolved ( highly stripped , less luminous ) of these stars , a concrete constraint on its evolutionary state just prior to core collapse .
The possibility of a less luminous , lower-mass binary progenitor can not be constrained .
This study demonstrates the power of LGS observations in furthering our understanding of core collapse , and the physics powering supernovae , GRBs and XRFs .