Characterizing Supernova Progenitors via the Metallicities of their Host Galaxies, from Poor Dwarfs to Rich Spirals

By J. Prieto, Krzysztof Zbigniew Stanek, J. Beacom. 2007

182 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We investigate how the different types of supernovae are relatively affected by the metallicity of their host galaxy. We match the SAI supernova catalog to the SDSS DR4 catalog of star-forming galaxies with measured metallicities. These supernova host galaxies span a range of oxygen abundance from 12 + log (O/H) = 7.9 to 9.3 (~0.1-2.7 solar) and a range in absolute magnitude from MB = − 15.2 to –22.2. To reduce the various observational biases, we select a subsample of well-characterized supernovae in the redshift range from 0.01 to 0.04, which leaves us with 58 SNe II, 19 SNe Ib/c, and 38 SNe Ia. We find strong evidence that SNe Ib/c occur in higher metallicity host galaxies than SNe II, while we see no effect for SNe Ia relative to SNe II. We note some extreme and interesting supernova-host pairs, including the metal-poor (~ solar) host of the recent SN Ia 2007bk, where the supernova was found well outside of this dwarf galaxy. To extend the luminosity range of supernova hosts to even fainter galaxies, we also match all the supernovae with z < 0.3 to the SDSS DR6 sky images, resulting in 1225 matches. This allows us to identify some even more extreme cases, such as the recent SN Ic 2007bg, where the likely host of this hypernova-like event has an absolute magnitude MB ∼ − 12, making it one of the least luminous supernova hosts ever observed. This low-luminosity host is certain to be very metal-poor (~ solar), and therefore this supernova is an excellent candidate for association with an off-axis GRB. The two catalogs that we have constructed are available online and will be updated regularly. Finally, we discuss various implications of our findings for understanding supernova progenitors and their host galaxies.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Instrumentation, Nuclear and High Energy Physics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/c2b7c065cfcc13d9660ddca234cbd757b1b276c9

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In Astronomy and Astrophysics

1. A. Filippenko
2. N. Smith
3. E. Berger
4. S. Smartt
5. Ryan Chornock
6. Weidong Li
7. D. Maoz
8. F. Mannucci

In Instrumentation

1. N. Smith
2. A. Filippenko
3. S. Smartt
4. Weidong Li
5. F. Mannucci
6. D. Maoz
7. E. Berger
8. A. Riess

In Nuclear and High Energy Physics

1. N. Smith
2. D. Maoz
3. F. Mannucci
4. S. Smartt
5. E. Berger
6. A. Filippenko
7. Weidong Li
8. T. Thompson

Citations in the corpus

• A NEW CLASS OF LUMINOUS TRANSIENTS AND A FIRST CENSUS OF THEIR MASSIVE STELLAR PROGENITORS (2008, background): “…complemented by statistical studies of supernova environments within their host galaxies, which provide indirect evidencfor associations between certain types of supernovae and broad classes of progenitors (e.g., James & Anderson 2006; Kelly et al. 2008; Prieto et al. 2008; Anderson & James 2008).”
• THE LOCATIONS OF SHORT GAMMA-RAY BURSTS AS EVIDENCE FOR COMPACT OBJECT BINARY PROGENITORS (2013, methodology): “The short GRB median offset is comparable to those for Type Ia and core-collapse SNe of≈ 3 kpc (Figure 5; Prieto et al. 2008), but the short GRB offset distribution extends to much larger offsets: only 10% of both SN types have offsets of & 10 kpc, compared to 25% for short GRBs.”
• Luminous blue variables are antisocial: their isolation implies that they are kicked mass gainers in binary evolution (2014, background): “…some nearby SN impostors, detections of their relatively low-luminosity dust-enshrouded progenitors, as well as the ages of surrounding stars, suggest either progenitors that are 10-15 M⊙ BSGs/RSGs or even ∼8 M⊙ super-AGB stars (e.g., Prieto et al. 2008; Thompson et al. 2009; Kochanek et al. 2011).”
• CALCIUM-RICH GAP TRANSIENTS IN THE REMOTE OUTSKIRTS OF GALAXIES (2011, background): “Several studies of supernova host-galaxy properties as well as the site of the supernova within the host galaxy have been undertaken (Howell 2001; van den Bergh 1997; Prieto et al. 2008; Hakobyan et al. 2009; Boissier & Prantzos 2009; Anderson & James 2009).”
• Observed Fractions of Core-Collapse Supernova Types and Initial Masses of their Single and Binary Progenitor Stars (2010, background): “(3) We find a larger fraction of SNe Ibc than Cappellaro et al. (1997), although similar to other estimates (van den Bergh, McClure & Evans 1987; Prantzos & Boissier 2003; Prieto et al. 2008; Boissier & Prantzos 2009; Smartt et al. 2009).”
• FIRST RESULTS FROM THE CATALINA REAL-TIME TRANSIENT SURVEY (2008, background): “Most of these groups only search for low-z SNe clearly associated with large, bright, galaxies (Prieto et al. 2008)14.”
• OPTICAL SPECTRA OF 73 STRIPPED-ENVELOPE CORE-COLLAPSE SUPERNOVAE (2014, background): “Furthermore, the field of directly measured metallicities is a rapidly developing research area (Modjaz et al. 2008a; Prieto et al. 2008; Anderson et al. 2010; Modjaz et al. 2011; Leloudas et al. 2011; Kelly & Kirshner 2012; Sanders et al. 2012a, see review in Modjaz 2011), since metallicity is one…”
• The helium star donor channel for the progenitors of Type Ia supernovae (2009, background): “However, this metallicity threshold has not been found (Prieto et al. 2008).”
• Progenitor mass constraints for core-collapse supernovae from correlations with host galaxy star formation⋆ (2012, background): “Indeed, it appears that the SNIIn and ‘impostor’ family is extremely heterogeneous with the possibility of a significant fraction arising from lower mass stars in dusty environments (e.g. Prieto et al. 2008; Thompson et al. 2009; Kochanek et al. 2012).”