Year: 2014
Type: article
Abstract: 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 2 " value giving the decline rate during the "plateau" phase, indicating its morphological type.
Source: The Astrophysical Journal
Authors: Joseph P. Anderson, Santiago González-Gaitán, Mario Hamuy, Claudia P. Gutiérrez, Maximilian D. Stritzinger, Felipe Olivares E., Mark M. Phillips, Steve Schulze, Roberto Antezana, Luis Bolt, Abdo Campillay, Sergio Castellón, Carlos Contreras, Thomas de Jaeger, Gastón Folatelli, Francisco Förster, Wendy L. Freedman, Luis González, Eric Hsiao, Wojtek Krzemiński, Kevin Krisciunas, José Maza, Patrick McCarthy, Nidia I. Morrell, Sven E. Persson, Miguel Roth, Francisco Salgado, Nicholas B. Suntzeff, Joanna Thomas-Osip
Institutions: European Southern Observatory, University of Chile, Millennium Institute of Astrophysics, Aarhus University, Universidad Andrés Bello, Las Campanas Observatory, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, University of Bonn, Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe, The University of Tokyo, Carnegie Institution for Science, Carnegie Observatories, Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center, Texas A&M University, Leiden University, Leiden Observatory
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2154178173