THE TYPE Ia SUPERNOVA RATE IN REDSHIFT 0.5-0.9 GALAXY CLUSTERS
- Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637 (United States)
- Benoziyo Center for Astrophysics, Faculty of Physics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100 (Israel)
- School of Physics and Astronomy, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978 (Israel)
- Department of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3411 (United States)
- Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States)
- Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States)
- Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille, CNRS-Universite Aix-Marseille, 38 rue F. Joliot-Curie, 13388 Marseille Cedex 13 (France)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, BPS Building, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824 (United States)
- Carnegie Observatories, 813 Santa Barbara Street, Pasadena, CA 91101 (United States)
- Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 01238 (United States)
- Department of Astronomy, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611 (United States)
Supernova (SN) rates are potentially powerful diagnostics of metal enrichment and SN physics, particularly in galaxy clusters with their deep, metal-retaining potentials and relatively simple star formation histories. We have carried out a survey for SNe in galaxy clusters, at a redshift range of 0.5 < z < 0.9, using the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) on the Hubble Space Telescope. We reimaged a sample of 15 clusters that were previously imaged by ACS, thus obtaining two to three epochs per cluster in which we discovered five likely cluster SNe, six possible cluster Type Ia supernovae, two hostless SN candidates, and several background and foreground events. Keck spectra of the host galaxies were obtained to establish cluster membership. We conducted detailed efficiency simulations, and measured the stellar luminosities of the clusters using Subaru images. We derive a cluster SN rate of 0.35SNu {sub B} {sup +0.17} {sub -0.12}(statistical) {+-}0.13(classification) {+-}0.01(systematic) (where SNu {sub B} = SNe (100 yr 10{sup 10} L {sub B,sun}){sup -1}) and 0.112SNu {sub M} {sup +0.055} {sub -0.039}(statistical) {+-}0.042(classification) {+-}0.005(systematic) (where SNu {sub M} = SNe (100 yr 10{sup 10} M {sub sun}){sup -1}). As in previous measurements of cluster SN rates, the uncertainties are dominated by small-number statistics. The SN rate in this redshift bin is consistent with the SN rate in clusters at lower redshifts (to within the uncertainties), and shows that there is, at most, only a slight increase of cluster SN rate with increasing redshift. The low and fairly constant SN Ia rate out to z {approx} 1 implies that the bulk of the iron mass in clusters was already in place by z {approx} 1. The recently observed doubling of iron abundances in the intracluster medium between z = 1 and 0, if real, is likely to be the result of redistribution of existing iron, rather than new production of iron.
- OSTI ID:
- 21455099
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 718, Issue 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/718/2/876; ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
THE HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE CLUSTER SUPERNOVA SURVEY. II. THE TYPE Ia SUPERNOVA RATE IN HIGH-REDSHIFT GALAXY CLUSTERS
A Measurement of the Rate of Type Ia Supernovae in Galaxy Clusters from the SDSS-II Supernova Survey