Characterizing the V-band light-curves of hydrogen-rich type II supernovae

Journal Article · Thu May 01 00:00:00 EDT 2014 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/786/1/67· OSTI ID:22357000

Anderson, Joseph P.; González-Gaitán, Santiago; Hamuy, Mario; Gutiérrez, Claudia P.; Antezana, Roberto; De Jaeger, Thomas; Förster, Francisco; González, Luis ^[1]; Stritzinger, Maximilian D.; Contreras, Carlos ^[2]; Olivares E, Felipe ^[3]; Phillips, Mark M.; Campillay, Abdo; Castellón, Sergio; Hsiao, Eric ^[4]; Schulze, Steve ^[5]; Bolt, Luis ^[6]; Folatelli, Gastón ^[7]; Freedman, Wendy L. ^[8]; Krzemiński, Wojtek ^[9] ; others, and

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1. Departamento de Astronomía, Universidad de Chile, Casilla 36-D, Santiago (Chile)
2. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 120, DK-8000 Aarhus C (Denmark)
3. Departamento de Ciencias Fisicas, Universidad Andres Bello, Avda. Republica 252, Santiago (Chile)
4. Carnegie Observatories, Las Campanas Observatory, Casilla 601, La Serena (Chile)
5. Instituto de Astrofísica, Facultad de Física, Pontifícia Universidad Católica de Chile, Casilla 306, Santiago 22 (Chile)
6. Argelander Institut für Astronomie, Universität Bonn, Auf dem Hügel 71, D-53111 Bonn (Germany)
7. Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (IPMU), University of Tokyo, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8583 (Japan)
8. Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science, Pasadena, CA 91101 (United States)
9. N. Copernicus Astronomical Center, ul. Bartycka 18, 00-716 Warszawa (Poland)

We present an analysis of the diversity of V-band light-curves of hydrogen-rich type II supernovae. Analyzing a sample of 116 supernovae, several magnitude measurements are defined, together with decline rates at different epochs, and time durations of different phases. It is found that magnitudes measured at maximum light correlate more strongly with decline rates than those measured at other epochs: brighter supernovae at maximum generally have faster declining light-curves at all epochs. We find a relation between the decline rate during the 'plateau' phase and peak magnitudes, which has a dispersion of 0.56 mag, offering the prospect of using type II supernovae as purely photometric distance indicators. Our analysis suggests that the type II population spans a continuum from low-luminosity events which have flat light-curves during the 'plateau' stage, through to the brightest events which decline much faster. A large range in optically thick phase durations is observed, implying a range in progenitor envelope masses at the epoch of explosion. During the radioactive tails, we find many supernovae with faster declining light-curves than expected from full trapping of radioactive emission, implying low mass ejecta. It is suggested that the main driver of light-curve diversity is the extent of hydrogen envelopes retained before explosion. Finally, a new classification scheme is introduced where hydrogen-rich events are typed as simply 'SN II' with an 's {sub 2}' value giving the decline rate during the 'plateau' phase, indicating its morphological type.

• OSTI ID: 22357000
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 786, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
CLASSIFICATION
DIAGRAMS
DISPERSIONS
EMISSION
EXPLOSIONS
INDICATORS
LUMINOSITY
MASS
TRAPPING
TYPE II SUPERNOVAE
VISIBLE RADIATION