A Comparative Study of the Absolute Magnitude Distributions of Supernovae

By D. Richardson, D. Branch, D. Casebeer, J. Millard, R. Thomas, Eddie Baron. 2001

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The Asiago Supernova Catalog is used to carry out a comparative study of supernova absolute magnitude distributions. An overview of the absolute magnitudes of the supernovae in the current observational sample is presented, and the evidence for subluminous and overluminous events is examined. The fraction of supernovae that are subluminous (MB > -15) appears to be higher (perhaps much higher) than but it remains very uncertain. The fraction that are overluminous (MB > -20) is lower (probably much lower) than 0.01. The absolute magnitude distributions for each supernova type, restricted to events within 1 Gpc, are compared. Although these distributions are affected by observational bias in favor of the more luminous events, they are useful for comparative studies. We find mean absolute blue magnitudes (for H0 = 60) of -19.46 for normal Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia), -18.04 for SNe Ibc, -17.61 and -20.26 for normal and bright SNe Ibc considered separately, -18.03 for SNe II-L, -17.56 and -19.27 for normal and bright SNe II-L considered separately, -17.00 for SNe II-P, and -19.15 for SNe IIn.

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

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/c4bd54e2917583060ebf6ca76a4c2f08cddb7f69

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Citations in the corpus

Twenty-Three High-Redshift Supernovae from the Institute for Astronomy Deep Survey: Doubling the Supernova Sample at z > 0.7 (2004, background): “SNe Ib/c are typically much fainter than SNe Ia [with a luminosity function as given by Richardson et al. 2002 of MBðIb=cÞ ¼ 18:04, compared to MBðIaÞ ¼ 19:46], so we do not expect to be significantly contaminated at high redshift by these objects for the same reasons as for the faint SN Ia 1999by.”
THE COSMIC CORE-COLLAPSE SUPERNOVA RATE DOES NOT MATCH THE MASSIVE-STAR FORMATION RATE (2011, background): “Type IIP SNe are the most common type of CC SNe and also the most varied in terms of luminosity (e.g., Richardson et al. 2002; Hamuy 2003).”
The Hubble Higher z Supernova Search: Supernovae to z ≈ 1.6 and Constraints on Type Ia Progenitor Models (2004, methodology): “…fits required consistency in the light-curve shape and peak color (to within magnitude limits), and in peak luminosity in that the derived absolute magnitude in the rest-frame B band had to be consistent with the observed distribution of absolute B-band magnitudes shown in Richardson et al. (2002).”
Nearby Supernova Rates from the Lick Observatory Supernova Search. II. The Observed Luminosity Functions and Fractions of Supernovae in a Complete Sample (2010, background): “Richardson et al. (2002) suggested a population of luminous SNe Ibc (with peak absolute magnitude brighter than ∼ −20) and II-L (brighter than ∼ −19).”
Characterizing Supernova Progenitors via the Metallicities of their Host Galaxies, from Poor Dwarfs to Rich Spirals (2007, background): “First, SN Ia supernovae are, on average, 2 mag brighter at peak luminosity than corecollapse events (Richardson et al. 2002); therefore, they can be found at larger distances in magnitude-limited surveys.”
THE AFTERGLOWS OF SWIFT-ERA GAMMA-RAY BURSTS. II. TYPE I GRB VERSUS TYPE II GRB OPTICAL AFTERGLOWS (2008, background): “Furthermore, the less constraining upper limits cannot exclude supernovae similar to the faintest local core-collapse events (cf. Richardson et al. 2002; Pastorello et al. 2004).”
High-Redshift Supernova Rates (2004, methodology): “The typical uncertainty in peak magnitudes for different CC subtypes in Richardson et al. (2002) is 0.1–0.2 mag.”
Nearby supernova rates from the Lick Observatory Supernova Search – I. The methods and data base (2010, background): “SNe display a great degree of diversity in their peak absolute luminosity and their photometric behaviours (e.g., Leibundgut et al. 1991; Filippenko 1997; Richardson et al. 2002).”
A NEW CLASS OF LUMINOUS TRANSIENTS AND A FIRST CENSUS OF THEIR MASSIVE STELLAR PROGENITORS (2008, background): “Both have peak absoluteV -band magnitudeMV ≈ −14± 1 (≈ 2 − 3 magnitudes fainter than normal core-collapse supernovae; e.g., Richardson et al. 2002), strong evidence for internal extinction in their spectra, narrow emission lines (similar to low-luminosity Type IIn supernovae; e.g., Filippenko…”
A Systematic Analysis of Supernova Light in Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglows (2003, background): “We plot luminosity versus redshift just to look for a potential evolutionary effect (which is not apparent) and to separate the individual SNe from each other.”
SUPERNOVA LIGHT CURVES POWERED BY YOUNG MAGNETARS (2009, background): “For stars with remaining hydrogen, magnetar injection may explain the brighter (MB ∼ −19) subclass of Type II-L SNe noted by Richardson et al. (2002), i.e. 1961F, 1979C, 1980K, 1985L.”
SUPERNOVA SIMULATIONS AND STRATEGIES FOR THE DARK ENERGY SURVEY (2011, methodology): “To take the conservative approach, we used the single-Gaussian-approximation brightnesses from Richardson et al. (2002) as our default.”
The Supernova Legacy Survey: Measurement of Omega_M, Omega_Lambda,and w from the First Year Data Set (2005, background): “SNe Ib/c have an intrinsic luminosity distribution which is wider than SNe Ia (cf. dispersion 0.45 mag for SNe Ia, vs. 1.2 mag for SNe Ib/c; Homeier 2005; Richardson et al. 2002).”
Runaway stars as progenitors of supernovae and gamma-ray bursts (2011, background): “For example, type Ib/c supernovae are generally more luminous than type IIP supernovae, although there is significant diversity in the SN population (Richardson et al. 2002).”
Results from the Supernova Photometric Classification Challenge (2010, methodology): “The magnitudes were drawn from Gaussian distributions as described in Richardson et al. (2002).”
Low‐luminosity Type II supernovae: spectroscopic and photometric evolution (2003, background): “Richardson et al. (2002) found that for SNe in our Galaxy and in nearby galaxies (µ 30), possibly more than 20 per cent have an intrinsic MB fainter than –15.”
SUPERNOVA CONSTRAINTS AND SYSTEMATIC UNCERTAINTIES FROM THE FIRST THREE YEARS OF THE SUPERNOVA LEGACY SURVEY (2011, background): “Richardson et al. (2002) estimates ∆bc = 0.7 and σbc = 0.33 mag, after color correction.”
On the diversity of superluminous supernovae: ejected mass as the dominant factor (2015, background): “Some authors have argued that this hierarchy is driven by varying degrees of circumstellar interaction (Chevalier & Fransson 1994; Richardson et al. 2002; Gal-Yam 2012).”
THE LANDSCAPE OF THE NEUTRINO MECHANISM OF CORE-COLLAPSE SUPERNOVAE: NEUTRON STAR AND BLACK HOLE MASS FUNCTIONS, EXPLOSION ENERGIES, AND NICKEL YIELDS (2014, background): “However, the observational estimates of low-luminosity SN frequency range from several per cent to ∼ 20% (Chugai & Utrobin 2000; Richardson et al. 2002, 2014; Pastorello et al. 2004) suggesting a somewhat smaller range of masses.”