From core collapse to superluminous: the rates of massive stellar explosions from the Palomar Transient Factory

Creators: Frohmaier, C.; Angus, C. R.; Vincenzi, M.; Sullivan, M.; Smith, M.; Nugent, P. E.; Cenko, S. B.; Gal-Yam, A.; Kulkarni, S. R.; Law, N. M.; Quimby, R. M.

Abstract

We present measurements of the local core-collapse supernova (CCSN) rate using SN discoveries from the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF). We use a Monte Carlo simulation of hundreds of millions of SN light-curve realizations coupled with the detailed PTF survey detection efficiencies to forward model the SN rates in PTF. Using a sample of 86 CCSNe, including 26 stripped-envelope SNe (SESNe), we show that the overall CCSN volumetric rate is r^(CC)_v = 9.10^(+1.56)_(−1.27)×10⁻⁵ SNe yr⁻¹ Mpc⁻³ h³₇₀ at 〈z〉 = 0.028, and the SESN volumetric rate is r^(SE)_v = 2.41^(+0.81)_(−0.64)×10⁻⁵ SNe yr⁻¹ Mpc⁻³ h³₇₀. We further measure a volumetric rate for hydrogen-free superluminous SNe (SLSNe-I) using eight events at z ≤ 0.2 of r^(SLSN−I)_v = 35⁺²⁵₋₁₃ SNe yr⁻¹ Gpc⁻³ h³₇₀⁠, which represents the most precise SLSN-I rate measurement to date. Using a simple cosmic star formation history to adjust these volumetric rate measurements to the same redshift, we measure a local ratio of SLSN-I to SESN of ∼1/810⁺¹⁵⁰⁰₋₉₄, and of SLSN-I to all CCSN types of ∼1/3500⁺²⁸⁰⁰₋₇₂₀. However, using host galaxy stellar mass as a proxy for metallicity, we also show that this ratio is strongly metallicity dependent: in low-mass (logM_* < 9.5 M_⊙) galaxies, which are the only environments that host SLSN-I in our sample, we measure an SLSN-I to SESN fraction of 1/300⁺³⁸⁰₋₁₇₀ and 1/1700⁺¹⁸⁰⁰₋₇₂₀ for all CCSN. We further investigate the SN rates a function of host galaxy stellar mass, and show that the specific rates of all CCSNe decrease with increasing stellar mass.

Additional Information

© 2020 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical Society. This article is published and distributed under the terms of the Oxford University Press, Standard Journals Publication Model (https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model). Accepted 2020 November 16. Received 2020 November 16; in original form 2020 July 8. Published: 21 November 2020. We thank the anonymous referee for their useful comments. We are grateful to Laura Nuttall and Or Graur for their support and scientific discussions during the preparation of this manuscript. We acknowledge support from EU/FP7 ERC grant number 615929 and the Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC) grant number ST/P006760/1 through the DISCnet Centre for Doctoral Training. We acknowledge the use of the IRIDIS High Performance Computing Facility, and associated support services, at the University of Southampton. This research used resources of the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, a DOE Office of Science User Facility supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy under contract no. DE-AC02-05CH11231. Observations were obtained with the Samuel Oschin Telescope and the 60-inch Telescope at the Palomar Observatory as part of the PTF project, a scientific collaboration between the California Institute of Technology, Columbia University, Las Cumbres Observatory, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, the University of Oxford, and the Weizmann Institute of Science. Funding for the SDSS-IV has been provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, and the Participating Institutions. SDSS-IV acknowledges support and resources from the Center for High-Performance Computing at the University of Utah. The SDSS web site is www.sdss.org. SDSS-IV is managed by the Astrophysical Research Consortium for the Participating Institutions of the SDSS Collaboration including the Brazilian Participation Group, the Carnegie Institution for Science, Carnegie Mellon University, the Chilean Participation Group, the French Participation Group, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, The Johns Hopkins University, Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (IPMU)/University of Tokyo, the Korean Participation Group, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Leibniz Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam (AIP), Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (MPIA Heidelberg), Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik (MPA Garching), Max-Planck-Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik (MPE), National Astronomical Observatories of China, New Mexico State University, New York University, University of Notre Dame, Observatário Nacional/MCTI, The Ohio State University, Pennsylvania State University, Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, United Kingdom Participation Group, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, University of Arizona, University of Colorado Boulder, University of Oxford, University of Portsmouth, University of Utah, University of Virginia, University of Washington, University of Wisconsin, Vanderbilt University, and Yale University. Data Availability: The data underlying this article will be shared on reasonable request to the corresponding author.

Attached Files

Published - staa3607.pdf

Accepted Version - 2010.15270.pdf

Files

staa3607.pdf

Files (3.1 MB)

Name	Size	Download all
staa3607.pdf md5:279283be9ce0de701fd5d95461ed4e01	1.6 MB	Preview Download
2010.15270.pdf md5:4fea8d99420f93a9f87b2a0af6d8c960	1.5 MB	Preview Download

Additional details

	All versions	This version
Views	0	0
Downloads	0	0
Data volume	0 Bytes	0 Bytes