2006/05/31 by J. D. Neill, James D. Neill, M. Sullivan +42 · 116 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Geology #Physics #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Supernova #Type (biology) #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/505532
published in The Astronomical Journal 132(3), 1126-1145 (Institute of Physics) · 71 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in AJ, fixed typos in Eq 3 and 4
openalex publication_date 2006/07/24 · arxiv created 2007/06/21 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
We present a measurement of the distant Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) rate derived from the first 2 yr of the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Supernova Legacy Survey. We observed four 1° × 1° fields with a typical temporal frequency of ⟨Δ t ⟩ ∼ 4 observer-frame days over time spans of 158-211 days per season for each field, with breaks during the full Moon. We used 8-10 m class telescopes for spectroscopic follow-up to confirm our candidates and determine their redshifts. Our starting sample consists of 73 spectroscopically verified SNe Ia in the redshift range 0.2 < z < 0.6. We derive a volumetric SN Ia rate of r V (⟨ z ⟩ = 0.47) = × 10 -4 yr -1 Mpc 3 , assuming h = 0.7, Ω m = 0.3, and a flat cosmology. Using recently published galaxy luminosity functions derived in our redshift range, we derive a SN Ia rate per unit luminosity of r L (⟨ z ⟩ = 0.47) = 0.154 (syst.) (stat.) SN units. Using our rate alone, we place an upper limit on the component of SN Ia production that tracks the cosmic star formation history of 1 SN Ia per 10 3 M ⊙ of stars formed. Our rate and other rates from surveys using spectroscopic sample confirmation display only a modest evolution out to z = 0.55.