APS 2023 Presentation: Investigating Milky Way Red Supergiants

Archival pre-explosion images have shown Red Supergiants (RSGs) to be the direct progenitors of the most common core-collapse SN, Type-IIP. However, the current number of known RSGs in the Milky Way is not substantial, with most catalogs having ~100. A better understanding of the spatial and luminosity distribution of RSGs will help not only with understanding galactic stellar evolution but also improve our chances of having pre-explosion images and our ability to utilize multi-messenger astronomy during core collapse. We used two methods to compile spectroscopically derived spectral type catalogs and estimated the stellar bolometric magnitudes. Along with the stellar luminosity of each candidate, we use various parameters, including a comparison to massive star evolutionary tracks, status as a multi-star system, and evidence of variability, which match the characteristics of RSGs to determine the likelihood for each. We also look into our ability, with current detectors and those soon to be online, to resolve the position of each candidate if we received a neutrino signal.