The association of supernovae with regions of recent star formation in late-type galaxies

Thesis/Dissertation · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1989

OSTI ID:6595916

Van Dyk, S D

The association of supernovae of the four major types (Ia, Ib, II, and II pec) with regions of recent star formation in their parent late-type galaxies is established. The purpose is to place constraints on the possible progenitor populations. This was accomplished through a quantitative analysis of both photographic and CCD H{alpha} images of the galaxies. The CCD images of several parent galaxies were specifically obtained for this dissertation. The geometries of detected giant H II regions on these images near the supernovae sites are determined and compared to the H II region-supernova separation, in order to establish physical association. The specific problems of supernova classification and positional uncertainties, as well as the probability of chance superposition, are considered in this work. In addition, calibrated surface brightness profiles and integrated physical properties are presented for the associated H II regions. For the supernova sites imaged with CCDs' broad-band B images were also obtained, in order to map the distribution of blue stellar populations in the supernovae environments. The results of this study are: (1) from the lack of association with H II regions or bright OB associations, Type Ia supernovae are not likely to be associated with a young massive population, with mass M {ge} 8 Mass of sun (which supports the currently-popular model of an evolved binary system involving critical mass transfer on a white dwarf); (2) Type Ib, II, and II pec supernovae, however, are very likely to be associated with massive stellar populations, as theoretically expected; and, (3) the very massive Wolf-Rayet star progenitor model for Type Ib supernovae is not strongly supported here.

• Research Organization: Washington Univ., Seattle, WA (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6595916
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640102* -- Astrophysics & Cosmology-- Stars & Quasi-Stellar
Radio & X-Ray Sources
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
BINARY STARS
BRIGHTNESS
CHARGE-COUPLED DEVICES
CLASSIFICATION
COSMIC RADIO SOURCES
ERUPTIVE VARIABLE STARS
GALAXIES
H2 REGIONS
IMAGES
LIMITING VALUES
MAIN SEQUENCE STARS
MASS
MASS TRANSFER
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
POPULATIONS
SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES
STAR EVOLUTION
STARS
SUPERNOVAE
VARIABLE STARS
WOLF-RAYET STARS