DOCSLIB.ORG

Measuring and Extrapolating the Chemical Abundances of Normal and Superluminous Core-Collapse Supernovae

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Measuring and Extrapolating the Chemical Abundances of Normal and Superluminous Core-Collapse Supernovae Measuring and Extrapolating the Chemical Abundances of Normal and Superluminous Core-Collapse Supernovae Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Rebecca A. Stoll Graduate Program in Astronomy The Ohio State University 2013 Dissertation Committee: Professor Richard W. Pogge, Advisor Professor Paul Martini Professor Todd A. Thompson Copyright by Rebecca A. Stoll 2013 Abstract We present All-Sky Automated Survey data starting 25 days before the discovery of the recent type IIn SN 2010jl, and we compare its light curve to other luminous IIn SNe, showing that it is a luminous (MI 20.5) event. Its host galaxy, ≈ − UGC 5189, has a low gas-phase oxygen abundance (12+log(O/H) = 8.2 0.1), which ± reinforces the emerging trend that over-luminous core-collapse supernovae are found in the low-metallicity tail of the galaxy distribution, similar to the known trend for the hosts of long GRBs. We compile oxygen abundances from the literature and from our own observations of UGC 5189, and we present an unpublished spectrum of the luminous type Ic SN 2010gx that we use to estimate its host metallicity. We discuss these in the context of host metallicity trends for different classes of core-collapse objects. The earliest generations of stars are known to be enhanced in [O/Fe] relative to the Solar mixture; it is therefore likely that the stellar progenitors of these overluminous supernovae are even more iron-poor than they are oxygen-poor. A number of mechanisms and massive star progenitor systems have been proposed to explain the most luminous core-collapse supernovae. Any successful theory that tries to explain these very luminous events will need to include the emerging trend that points towards low-metallicity for the massive progenitor stars. This trend for ii very luminous supernovae to strongly prefer low-metallicity galaxies should be taken into account when considering various aspects of the evolution of the metal-poor early universe, such as enrichment and reionization. Type II SNe can be used as a star formation tracer to probe the metallicity distribution of global low-redshift star formation. We present oxygen and iron abundance distributions of type II supernova progenitor regions that avoid many previous sources of bias. Because iron abundance, rather than oxygen abundance, is of key importance for the late stage evolution of the massive stars that are the progenitors of core-collapse supernovae, and because iron enrichment lags oxygen enrichment, we find a general conversion from oxygen abundance to iron abundance. The distributions we present here are the best yet observational standard of comparison for evaluating how different classes of supernovae depend on progenitor metallicity. We spectroscopically measure the gas-phase oxygen abundance near a representative subsample of the hosts of type II supernovae from the first-year Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) supernova search. The median metallicity is 12+log(O/H) = 8.65 and the median host galaxy stellar mass from fits to SDSS 9.9 photometry is 10 M⊙. They do not show a systematic offset in metallicity or mass from a redshift-matched sample of the MPA/JHU value-added catalog. In contrast to previous supernova host metallicity studies, this sample is drawn from a single survey. It is also drawn from an areal rather than a targeted survey, so supernovae in the lowest-mass galaxies are not excluded. Indeed, the PTF supernova search has iii a slight bias towards following up transients in low mass galaxies. The progenitor region metallicity distribution we find is statistically indistinguishable from the metallicity distribution of type II supernova hosts found by targeted surveys and by samples from multiple surveys with different selection functions. Using the relationship between iron and oxygen abundances found for Milky Way disk, bulge, and halo stars, we translate our distribution of type II SN environments as a function of oxygen abundance into an estimate of the iron abundance, since iron varies more steeply than oxygen. We find that though this sample spans only 0.65 dex in oxygen abundance, the gap between the iron and oxygen abundance is 50% wider at the low-metallicity end of our sample than at the high-metallicity end. We compare the host metallicity distribution of core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe) with peak absolute magnitudes brighter than 20 with the host metallicity − distribution of type II SNe from the Palomar Transient Factory first-year sample. We find that luminous CCSNe come from much more metal-poor environments than normal type II SNe; the K-S probability of the two samples being drawn from the same underlying oxygen abundance distribution is only 0.04%. Iron is a key source of opacity for massive star winds, and at lower metallicity, α-elements like oxygen are enhanced relative to iron compared to the solar mixture. The progenitors of luminous CCSNe are much poorer in iron than the progenitors of normal type II SNe, suggesting mass loss is a key factor for abnormally high luminosity. iv Dedication Dedicated to the memories of Kay Stoll and Kendra Lipinski. The world is poorer without you, Wanderer and Wonderer. v Acknowledgments Thanks to Rick Pogge for broad instrumentation trouble-shooting experience, for mentorship, for wide-ranging conversations on history, geography, politics, and literature, and for consistently making one want to strive to be a better scientist. Thanks to Paul Martini for giving us practice every week reading papers efficiently and thoroughly, talking about them cogently and concisely, and deconstructing them or haring away on interesting tangents. Thanks to Paul, Rick, Mark Derwent, Dan Pappalardo, and Tom O’Brien for taking on an instrumentation newbie and sending her on as an old hand. Thanks to Kim McLeod for the introduction to research and for insightful mentorship, even more insightful than I at the time realized. Thanks to Richard French and Mike Brotherton, for valuable mentorship and for extending opportunities when critical. Thanks to Richard C. Henry for demonstrating that astronomy was physics and therefore interesting rather than just pretty. Thanks to Kris Stanek for lessons in the cost of standing by what I know to be true. Thanks to Todd Thompson for distilling the complicated alchemy that is daily coffee into a set of clear and usually achievable guidelines, and for being one of the members of the department who most consistently brings the glee to discussions of difficult scientific problems. Thanks to Barbara Ryden for deliciously sardonic wit, history of science, vi and patiently putting up with burbling about Shakespeare or about crazy schemes for recruiting undergrads. Thanks to Andy Gould for statistical mental shortcuts, for putting us in the habit of looking at things sideways and upside down, and for a unique view of world events. Thanks to Virginia Stoll, for all which cannot be summarized, and to Carine, Amber, Sam, Kaelin, Ann, Samantha, Bethany, Sarah, Lisa, Kate, and Sondy. To the grad students and the postdocs and the guys in the lab. Many thanks to my family for everything, the smallest but latest example of which is excellent proofreading—just in time for me to correct the proofs of my latest journal article as well as the dissertation itself! You caught a number of important things the professional copy editor missed. And thanks to Mrs. Ross, partly for Hamlet and the Scottish play, but mostly because a sixth grader has no context for aptitude test scores, and doesn’t know she should advocate for herself with the school district; being put in ‘advanced math’ sounded advanced enough to an eleven-year-old. Algebra was vastly more interesting than patiently sitting through stultifyingly boring fractions again, and geometry at the high school led to free time in the middle-school library to read all the relativity books, which nurtured the interest in physics (and Orwell, which nurtured the interest in dystopia, but that’s another story entirely.) All the research shows that elementary school teachers can be key to students’ future success in (or fear of) vii mathematics, but this was really above and beyond the call of duty. Sometimes you don’t realize someone has changed your life until decades later. viii Vita September 22, 1982 . Born – Santa Clara, CA, USA 2006 . A.B. Physics, Wellesley College 2006 – 2007 . Research Scientist, University of Wyoming 2007 – 2008 .................... Graduate Teaching Associate, The Ohio State University 2008 – 2010 . Graduate Research Associate, The Ohio State University 2010 – 2011 . David G. Price Fellow in Astronomical Instrumentation, The Ohio State University 2011 – 2012 . Graduate Research Associate, The Ohio State University 2012 – 2013 . David G. Price Fellow in Astronomical Instrumentation, The Ohio State University Publications Research Publications 1. R. Stoll, P. Martini, M. A. Derwent, R. Gonzalez, T. P. O’Brien, D. P. Pappalardo, R. W. Pogge, M.-H. Wong, and R. Zhelem, “Mechanisms and instrument electronics for the Ohio State Multi-Object Spectrograph (OSMOS)”, Proc. SPIE, 7735, 154, (2010). ix 2. R. Khan, J. L. Prieto, G. Pojma´nski, K. Z. Stanek, J. F. Beacom, D. M. Szczygie l, B. Pilecki, K. Mogren, J. D. Eastman, P. Martini, and R. Stoll, “Pre-discovery and Follow-up Observations of the Nearby SN 2009nr: Implications for Prompt Type Ia Supernovae”, ApJ, 726, 106, (2011). 3. P. Martini, R. Stoll, M. A. Derwent, R. Zhelem, B. Atwood, R. Gonzalez, J. A. Mason, T. P. O’Brien, D. P. Pappalardo, R. W. Pogge, B. Ward, and M.-H. Wong, “The Ohio State Multi-Object Spectrograph”, PASP, 123, 187, (2011). 4. R. Stoll, J. L. Prieto, K. Z. Stanek, R. W. Pogge, D. M. Szczygie l, G. Pojma´nski, J.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Pos(BASH 2013)009 † ∗ [email protected] Speaker
    The Progenitor Systems and Explosion Mechanisms of Supernovae PoS(BASH 2013)009 Dan Milisavljevic∗ † Harvard University E-mail: [email protected] Supernovae are among the most powerful explosions in the universe. They affect the energy balance, global structure, and chemical make-up of galaxies, they produce neutron stars, black holes, and some gamma-ray bursts, and they have been used as cosmological yardsticks to detect the accelerating expansion of the universe. Fundamental properties of these cosmic engines, however, remain uncertain. In this review we discuss the progress made over the last two decades in understanding supernova progenitor systems and explosion mechanisms. We also comment on anticipated future directions of research and highlight alternative methods of investigation using young supernova remnants. Frank N. Bash Symposium 2013: New Horizons in Astronomy October 6-8, 2013 Austin, Texas ∗Speaker. †Many thanks to R. Fesen, A. Soderberg, R. Margutti, J. Parrent, and L. Mason for helpful discussions and support during the preparation of this manuscript. c Copyright owned by the author(s) under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike Licence. http://pos.sissa.it/ Supernova Progenitor Systems and Explosion Mechanisms Dan Milisavljevic PoS(BASH 2013)009 Figure 1: Left: Hubble Space Telescope image of the Crab Nebula as observed in the optical. This is the remnant of the original explosion of SN 1054. Credit: NASA/ESA/J.Hester/A.Loll. Right: Multi- wavelength composite image of Tycho’s supernova remnant. This is associated with the explosion of SN 1572. Credit NASA/CXC/SAO (X-ray); NASA/JPL-Caltech (Infrared); MPIA/Calar Alto/Krause et al.
    [Show full text]
  • Arxiv:1402.6337V1 [Astro-Ph.HE] 25 Feb 2014 Novae (SN Ia) Prevent Studies from Conclusively Singling Et Al
    A review of type Ia supernova spectra J. Parrent1,2, B. Friesen3, and M. Parthasarathy4 Abstract SN 2011fe was the nearest and best-observed fairly certain that the progenitor system of SN Ia com- type Ia supernova in a generation, and brought previ- prises at least one compact C+O white dwarf (Chan- ous incomplete datasets into sharp contrast with the drasekhar 1957; Nugent et al. 2011; Bloom et al. 2012). detailed new data. In retrospect, documenting spectro- However, how the state of this primary star reaches scopic behaviors of type Ia supernovae has been more a critical point of disruption continues to elude as- often limited by sparse and incomplete temporal sam- tronomers. This is particularly so given that less than pling than by consequences of signal-to-noise ratios, ∼ 15% of locally observed white dwarfs have a mass a telluric features, or small sample sizes. As a result, few 0.1M greater than a solar mass; very few systems 5 type Ia supernovae have been primarily studied insofar near the formal Chandrasekhar-mass limit ,MCh ≈ as parameters discretized by relative epochs and incom- 1.38 M (Vennes 1999; Liebert et al. 2005; Napiwotzki plete temporal snapshots near maximum light. Here we et al. 2005; Parthasarathy et al. 2007; Napiwotzki et al. discuss a necessary next step toward consistently mod- 2007). eling and directly measuring spectroscopic observables Thus far observational constraints of SN Ia have of type Ia supernova spectra. In addition, we analyze been inconclusive in distinguishing between the follow- current spectroscopic data in the parameter space de- ing three separate theoretical considerations about pos- fined by empirical metrics, which will be relevant even sible progenitor scenarios.
    [Show full text]
  • Luminous Blue Variables: an Imaging Perspective on Their Binarity and Near Environment?,??
    A&A 587, A115 (2016) Astronomy DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/201526578 & c ESO 2016 Astrophysics Luminous blue variables: An imaging perspective on their binarity and near environment?;?? Christophe Martayan1, Alex Lobel2, Dietrich Baade3, Andrea Mehner1, Thomas Rivinius1, Henri M. J. Boffin1, Julien Girard1, Dimitri Mawet4, Guillaume Montagnier5, Ronny Blomme2, Pierre Kervella7;6, Hugues Sana8, Stanislav Štefl???;9, Juan Zorec10, Sylvestre Lacour6, Jean-Baptiste Le Bouquin11, Fabrice Martins12, Antoine Mérand1, Fabien Patru11, Fernando Selman1, and Yves Frémat2 1 European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere, Alonso de Córdova 3107, Vitacura, 19001 Casilla, Santiago de Chile, Chile e-mail: [email protected] 2 Royal Observatory of Belgium, 3 avenue Circulaire, 1180 Brussels, Belgium 3 European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere, Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 2, 85748 Garching b. München, Germany 4 Department of Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, 1200 E. California Blvd, MC 249-17, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA 5 Observatoire de Haute-Provence, CNRS/OAMP, 04870 Saint-Michel-l’Observatoire, France 6 LESIA (UMR 8109), Observatoire de Paris, PSL, CNRS, UPMC, Univ. Paris-Diderot, 5 place Jules Janssen, 92195 Meudon, France 7 Unidad Mixta Internacional Franco-Chilena de Astronomía (CNRS UMI 3386), Departamento de Astronomía, Universidad de Chile, Camino El Observatorio 1515, Las Condes, Santiago, Chile 8 ESA/Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218,
    [Show full text]
  • A DEEP SEARCH for PROMPT RADIO EMISSION from THERMONUCLEAR SUPERNOVAE with the VERY LARGE ARRAY Laura Chomiuk1,11, Alicia M
    Draft version July 1, 2018 Preprint typeset using LATEX style emulateapj v. 5/2/11 A DEEP SEARCH FOR PROMPT RADIO EMISSION FROM THERMONUCLEAR SUPERNOVAE WITH THE VERY LARGE ARRAY Laura Chomiuk1;11, Alicia M. Soderberg2, Roger A. Chevalier3, Seth Bruzewski1, Ryan J. Foley4,5, Jerod Parrent2, Jay Strader1, Carles Badenes6 Claes Fransson7 Atish Kamble2, Raffaella Margutti8, Michael P. Rupen9, & Joshua D. Simon10 Draft version July 1, 2018 ABSTRACT Searches for circumstellar material around Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are one of the most powerful tests of the nature of SN Ia progenitors, and radio observations provide a particularly sensitive probe of this material. Here we report radio observations for SNe Ia and their lower-luminosity thermonu- clear cousins. We present the largest, most sensitive, and spectroscopically diverse study of prompt (∆t . 1 yr) radio observations of 85 thermonuclear SNe, including 25 obtained by our team with the unprecedented depth of the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array. With these observations, SN 2012cg joins SN 2011fe and SN 2014J as a SN Ia with remarkably deep radio limits and excellent temporal −1 _ −9 M yr coverage (six epochs, spanning 5{216 days after explosion, yielding M=vw . 5 × 10 100 km s−1 , assuming B = 0:1 and e = 0:1). All observations yield non-detections, placing strong constraints on the presence of circumstellar material. We present analytical models for the temporal and spectral evolution of prompt radio emission from thermonuclear SNe as expected from interaction with either wind-stratified or uniform density media. These models allow us to constrain the progenitor mass loss rates, with limits ranging _ −9 −4 −1 −1 from M .
    [Show full text]
  • Supernovae in Dense and Dusty Environments
    TURUN YLIOPISTON JULKAISUJA ANNALES UNIVERSITATIS TURKUENSIS SARJA - SER. A I OSA - TOM. 456 ASTRONOMICA - CHEMICA - PHYSICA - MATHEMATICA SUPERNOVAE IN DENSE AND DUSTY ENVIRONMENTS by Erkki Kankare TURUN YLIOPISTO UNIVERSITY OF TURKU Turku 2013 From Department of Physics and Astronomy University of Turku FI-20014 Turku Finland Supervised by Dr. Seppo Mattila Department of Physics and Astronomy University of Turku Finland Reviewed by Prof. Juri Poutanen Dr. Dovi Poznanski Astronomy Division School of Physics and Astronomy Department of Physics Tel Aviv University University of Oulu Israel Finland Opponent Dr. Bruno Leibundgut European Southern Observatory Germany ISBN 978-951-29-5291-5 (PRINT) ISBN 978-951-29-5292-2 (PDF) ISSN 0082-7002 Painosalama Oy - Turku, Finland 2013 Acknowledgements First of all a big thank you to my supervisor Seppo Mattila who introduced me to supernovae and relentlessly guided me through my long PhD process and never stopped listening to his student who so often walked into his office to bother him. Many thanks too to my MSc supervisor Pekka Teerikorpi who intro- duced me into making science in the first place. I would also like to thank Stuart Ryder for the very successful collaboration on the Gemini programme, and Stefano Benetti for including me in the ESO/NTT Large Programme. Similar thanks go to Rubina Kotak, Peter Lundqvist, Andrea Pastorello, Miguel Angel´ P´erez-Torres, Cristina Romero-Ca˜nizales, Jason Spyromilio, Stefano Valenti, Petri V¨ais¨anen and all the other colleagues with whom I have had the honour to work, but who are unfortunately far too many to name here.
    [Show full text]
  • A Second Case of Variable Na ID Lines in a Highly-Reddened Type
    Accepted for publication in ApJ A Preprint typeset using LTEX style emulateapj v. 01/23/15 ERRATUM: “A SECOND CASE OF VARIABLE Na I D LINES IN A HIGHLY-REDDENED TYPE Ia SUPERNOVA” (2009, ApJ, 693, 207) Stephane´ Blondin,1,2,* Jose´ L. Prieto,3,† Ferdinando Patat,2 Peter Challis,1 Malcolm Hicken,1 Robert P. Kirshner,1,‡ Thomas Matheson,4 Maryam Modjaz5,§ 1. NO VARIABLE Na I D LINES IN SN 1999cl of SN 1999cl in a spiral arm with a blueshifted velocity The large variation in the Na I D equivalent width along the line of sight, as derived from kinematic maps (EW) observed in the Type Ia SN 1999cl (Blondin et al. of NGC 4501 based on H I emission by Chemin et al. ± ˚ (2006). We note that Garnavich et al. (1999) had in fact 2009), ∆EW = 1.66 0.21 A, results in fact from a mea- correctly reported a Na I D EW of 0.33nm for their first surement error. The origin of this error was traced back spectrum of SN 1999cl, consistent with our revised mea- I to observed wavelength shifts of the Na D profile with surement on the same spectrum. respect to its expected restframe location (5889.95 and All the other objects in our sample display significantly ˚ 5895.92 A for the D2 and D1 lines, respectively), which lower wavelength shifts of the Na I D profile (. 4 A˚ in were not properly taken into account in a revised im- absolute value; see Fig. 2). We have not investigated plementation of our EW computation (albeit correctly the exact nature of the observed wavelength shifts for displayed on the graphical interface developed for these all the objects in our sample, but simply note that ab- measurements; see Fig.
    [Show full text]
  • Luminous Blue Variables: an Imaging Perspective on Their Binarity and Near Environment
    Astronomy & Astrophysics manuscript no. article12LBVn5 c ESO 2016 January 15, 2016 Luminous blue variables: An imaging perspective on their binarity and near environment? Christophe Martayan1, Alex Lobel2, Dietrich Baade3, Andrea Mehner1, Thomas Rivinius1, Henri M. J. Boffin1, Julien Girard1, Dimitri Mawet4, Guillaume Montagnier5, Ronny Blomme2, Pierre Kervella6; 7, Hugues Sana8, Stanislav Štefl??9, Juan Zorec10, Sylvestre Lacour6, Jean-Baptiste Le Bouquin11, Fabrice Martins12, Antoine Mérand1, Fabien Patru11, Fernando Selman1, and Yves Frémat2 1 European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere, Alonso de Córdova 3107, Vitacura, Casilla 19001, Santiago de Chile, Chile e-mail: [email protected] 2 Royal Observatory of Belgium, 3 Avenue Circulaire, 1180 Brussels, Belgium 3 European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere, Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 2, 85748 Garching b. München, Germany 4 Department of Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, 1200 E. California Blvd, MC 249-17, Pasadena, CA 91125 USA 5 Observatoire de Haute-Provence, CNRS/OAMP, 04870 Saint-Michel-l’Observatoire, France 6 LESIA, UMR 8109, Observatoire de Paris, CNRS, UPMC, Univ. Paris-Diderot, PSL, 5 place Jules Janssen, 92195 Meudon, France 7 Unidad Mixta Internacional Franco-Chilena de Astronomía (UMI 3386), CNRS/INSU, France & Departamento de Astronomía, Universidad de Chile, Camino El Observatorio 1515, Las Condes, Santiago, Chile 8 ESA / Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD
    [Show full text]
  • UC Berkeley UC Berkeley Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    UC Berkeley UC Berkeley Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Improvements to Type Ia Supernova Models Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3rr760q8 Author Saunders, Clare Myers Publication Date 2016 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Improvements to Type Ia Supernova Models by Clare M. Saunders A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Physics in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Saul Perlmutter, Chair Professor Daniel Kasen Professor Joshua Bloom Summer 2016 Improvements to Type Ia Supernova Models Copyright 2016 by Clare M. Saunders 1 Abstract Improvements to Type Ia Supernova Models by Clare M. Saunders Doctor of Philosophy in Physics University of California, Berkeley Professor Saul Perlmutter, Chair Type Ia Supernovae provided the first strong evidence of dark energy and are still an important tool for measuring the accelerated expansion of the universe. However, future improvements will be limited by systematic uncertainties in our use of Type Ia supernovae as standard candles. Using Type Ia supernovae for cosmology relies on our ability to stan- dardize their absolute magnitudes, but this relies on imperfect models of supernova spectra time series. This thesis is focused on using data from the Nearby Supernova Factory both to understand current sources of uncertainty in standardizing Type Ia supernovae and to develop techniques that can be used to limit uncertainty in future analyses. Part I of this thesis is concerned with studying systematic errors that occur in the current generation of supernova lightcurve models.
    [Show full text]
  • Physics & Astronomy N
    Winter 2008 Physics & Astronomy Physics & Greetings Alumni and Friends of UWyo Physics & Astronomy! The most exciting recent news is that the department continues to grow, with our current expansion into condensed matter physics being the most prominent growth area. We were fortunate to lure away Professor Jinke Tang from the University of New Orleans, recruit Assistant Professor Wenyong Wang from the National Institute of Technology and Standards, and to receive the go-ahead to search for another condensed matter physicist this year; our next hire will be a computational condensed matter physicist, and we ex- pect s/he will take great advantage of the next generation supercomputer (planned for 2010) that UWyo will share with the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Wyoming's economy has been booming recently, and the impact here is palpable. There is a new campus conference center, a new School of Energy Resources, a new technology- oriented business incubator, and several other new and refurbished buildings. The gen- erous Hathaway Scholarship program has made a definite impact on student recruiting. We have 50 undergraduate majors, including several McNair scholars and a Goldwater Scholarship recipient. We have 14 graduate students researching a large range of topics, from magnetic materials to black holes. Our first crop of Astrophysics Ph.D. students from the reprised graduate program will be finishing this year, and we wish them the best of luck as they move into the next stage of their careers. Our observatory is receiv- ing a major control systems upgrade, and we are pursuing efforts to lead a new campus- wide materials lab.
    [Show full text]
  • Arxiv:0910.3330V1 [Astro-Ph.CO] 17 Oct 2009 ,Denmark
    The Carnegie Supernova Project: First Photometry Data Release of Low-Redshift Type Ia Supernovae1 Carlos Contreras2, Mario Hamuy3, M. M. Phillips2, Gast´on Folatelli2,3, Nicholas B. Suntzeff4,5, S. E. Persson6, Maximilian Stritzinger2,7, Luis Boldt2, Sergio Gonz´alez2, Wojtek Krzeminski2, Nidia Morrell2, Miguel Roth2, Francisco Salgado2,3, Mar´ıa Jos´eMaureira3, Christopher R. Burns6, W. L. Freedman6, Barry F. Madore6,8, David Murphy6, Pamela Wyatt8, Weidong Li9, and Alexei V. Filippenko9 ABSTRACT The Carnegie Supernova Project is a five-year survey being carried out at the Las Cam- panas Observatory to obtain high-quality light curves of ∼100 low-redshift Type Ia supernovae in a well-defined photometric system. Here we present the first release of photometric data that contains the optical light curves of 35 Type Ia supernovae, and near-infrared light curves for a subset of 25 events. The data comprise 5559 optical (ugriBV ) and 1043 near-infrared (YJHKs) data points in the natural system of the Swope telescope. Twenty-eight supernovae have pre-maximum data, and for 15 of these, the observations begin at least 5 days before B maximum. This is one of the most ac- curate datasets of low-redshift Type Ia supernovae published to date. When completed, the CSP dataset will constitute a fundamental reference for precise determinations of cosmological parameters, and serve as a rich resource for comparison with models of Type Ia supernovae. Subject headings: galaxies: distances and redshifts – supernovae: general 1This paper includes data gathered with the 6.5-m Magellan Telescopes located at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile. 2Las Campanas Observatory, Carnegie Observatories, Casilla 601, La Serena, Chile.
    [Show full text]
  • The Supernova CSS121015:004244+132827: a Clue for Understanding Superluminous Supernovae
    MNRAS 441, 289–303 (2014) doi:10.1093/mnras/stu538 The supernova CSS121015:004244+132827: a clue for understanding superluminous supernovae S. Benetti,1‹ M. Nicholl,2 E. Cappellaro,1 A. Pastorello,1 S. J. Smartt,2 N. Elias-Rosa,1,3 A. J. Drake,4 L. Tomasella,1 M. Turatto,1 A. Harutyunyan,5 S. Taubenberger,6 S. Hachinger,1,7 A. Morales-Garoffolo,3 T.-W. Chen,2 S. G. Djorgovski,4 M. Fraser,2 A. Gal-Yam,8 C. Inserra,2 P. Mazzali,1,9 M. L. Pumo,1 J. Sollerman,10,11 S. Valenti,12,13 D. R. Young,2 M. Dennefeld,14 L. Le Guillou,15 15 16 M. Fleury and P.-F. Leget´ Downloaded from 1INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, vicolo dell’Osservatorio 5, I-35122 Padova, Italy 2Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, UK 3Institut de Ciencies` de l’Espai (CSIC-IEEC), Facultat de Ciencies,` Campus UAB, E-08193 Bellaterra, Spain 4California Institute of Technology, 1200 E. California Blvd., CA 91225, USA 5Telescopio Nazionale Galileo, Fundacion´ Galileo Galilei – INAF, Rambla JoseAnaFern´ andez´ Perez,´ 7, E-38712 Brena˜ Baja, TF, Spain 6 Max-Planck-Institut fur¨ Astrophysik, Karl Schwarzschild Str. 1, D-85741 Garching bei Munchen,¨ Germany http://mnras.oxfordjournals.org/ 7Institut fur¨ Theoretische Physik und Astrophysik, Universitat¨ Wurzburg,¨ D-97074 Wurzburg,¨ Germany 8Benoziyo Center for Astrophysics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel 9Liverpool John Moores, Liverpool Science Park, IC2 building, 146 Brownlow Hill, Liverpool L3 5RF, UK 10Department of Astronomy, AlbaNova Science Center, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden 11The Oskar Klein Centre, AlbaNova, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden 12Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, Broida Hall, Mail Code 9530, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9530, USA 13Las Cumbres Observatory, Global Telescope Network, 6740 Cortona Drive Suite 102, Goleta, CA 93117, USA 14CNRS, Institut dAstrophysique de Paris (IAP) and University P.
    [Show full text]
  • The Sloan Digital Sky Survey-II Supernova Survey: Technical Summary
    The Sloan Digital Sky Survey-II Supernova Survey: Technical Summary Joshua A. Frieman,1,2,3 Bruce Bassett,4,5 Andrew Becker,6 Changsu Choi,7 David Cinabro,8 Fritz DeJongh,1 Darren L. Depoy,9 Ben Dilday,2,10 Mamoru Doi,11 Peter M. Garnavich,12 Craig J. Hogan,6 Jon Holtzman,13 Myungshin Im,7 Saurabh Jha,14 Richard Kessler,2,15 Kohki Konishi,16 Hubert Lampeitl,17 John Marriner,1 Jennifer L. Marshall,9 David McGinnis,1 Gajus Miknaitis,1 Robert C. Nichol,18 Jose Luis Prieto,9 Adam G. Riess,17,19 Michael W. Richmond,20 Roger Romani,14 Masao Sako,21 Donald P. Schneider,22 Mathew Smith,18 Naohiro Takanashi,11 Kouichi Tokita,11 Kurt van der Heyden,5 Naoki Yasuda,16 Chen Zheng,14 Jennifer Adelman-McCarthy,1 James Annis,1 Roberto J. Assef,9 John Barentine,23,24 Ralf Bender,25,26 Roger D. Blandford,14 William N. Boroski,1 Malcolm Bremer,27 Howard Brewington,24 Chris A. Collins,28 Arlin Crotts,29 Jack Dembicky,24 Jason Eastman,9 Alastair Edge,30 Edmond Edmondson,18 Edward Elson,5 Michael E. Eyler,31 Alexei V. Filippenko,32 Ryan J. Foley,32 Stephan Frank,9 Ariel Goobar,33 Tina Gueth,13 James E. Gunn,34 Michael Harvanek,24,35 Ulrich Hopp,25,26 Yutaka Ihara,11 Zelkoˇ Ivezi´c,6 Steven Kahn,14 Jared Kaplan,36 Stephen Kent,1,3 William Ketzeback,24 Scott J. Kleinman,24,37 Wolfram Kollatschny,38 Richard G. Kron,3 Jurek Krzesi´nski,24,39 Dennis Lamenti,40 Giorgos Leloudas,41 Huan Lin,1 Daniel C.
    [Show full text]