2021A&A...653A.134B

Luminous red novae (LRNe) are astrophysical transients associated with the partial ejection of a binary system's common envelope shortly before its merger. Here we present the results of our photometric and spectroscopic follow-up campaign of AT 2018bwo (DLT 18x), a LRN discovered in NGC 45, and investigate its progenitor system using binary stellar-evolution models. The transient reached a peak magnitude of M_r=-10.97±0.11 and maintained this brightness during its optical plateau of t_p=41±5days. During this phase, it showed a rather stable photospheric temperature of ∼3300K and a luminosity of ∼10⁴⁰erg/s. Although the luminosity and duration of AT 2018bwo is comparable to the LRNe V838 Mon and M31-2015LRN, its photosphere at early times appears larger and cooler, likely due to an extended mass-loss episode before the merger. Toward the end of the plateau, optical spectra showed a reddened continuum with strong molecular absorption bands. The IR spectrum at +103 days after discovery was comparable to that of a M8.5 II type star, analogous to an extended AGB star. The reprocessed emission by the cooling dust was also detected in the mid-infrared bands ∼1.5 years after the outburst. Archival Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescope data taken 10-14yrs before the transient event suggest a progenitor star with T_prog∼6500K, R_prog∼100R_☉, and L_prog=2x10⁴L_☉, and an upper limit for optically thin warm (1000K) dust mass of M_d<10^–6M_☉. Using stellar binary-evolution models, we determined the properties of binary systems consistent with the progenitor parameter space. For AT 2018bwo, we infer a primary mass of 12-16M_☉, which is 9-45% larger than the ∼11M_☉ obtained using single-star evolution models. The system, consistent with a yellow-supergiant primary, was likely in a stable mass-transfer regime with -2.4≥log((dM/dt)/(M_☉/yr))≤-1.2 a decade before the main instability occurred. During the dynamical merger, the system would have ejected 0.15-0.5M_☉ with a velocity of ∼500km/s.