The death of massive stars - I. Observational constraints on the progenitors of Type II-P supernovae

We present the results of a 10.5yr, volume limited (28Mpc) search for supernova (SN) progenitor stars. In doing so we compile all SNe discovered within this volume (132, of which 27 % are type Ia) and determine the relative rates of each sub-type from literature studies. The core-collapse SNe break down into 59 % II-P and 29 % Ib/c, with the remainder being IIb (5%), IIn(4%) and II-L (3%). There have been 20 II-P SNe with high quality optical or near-IR pre-explosion images that allow a meaningful search for the progenitor stars. In five cases they are clearly red supergiants, one case is unconstrained, two fall on compact coeval star clusters and the other twelve have no progenitor detected. We review and update all the available data for the host galaxies and SN environments (distance, metallicity and extinction) and determine masses and upper mass estimates for these 20 progenitor stars using the STARS stellar evolutionary code and a single consistent homogeneous method. A maximum likelihood calculation suggests that the minimum stellar mass for a type II-P to form is mmin = 8.5 +1