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The Luminosity of SN 1999by in NGC 2841 and the Nature of “Peculiar” Type Ia Supernovae

2001/05/31 by Peter M. Garnavich, Alceste Z. Bonanos, Kevin Krisciunas +9 · 1 citation
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Absolute magnitude #Apparent magnitude #CCD and CMOS Imaging Sensors #Cepheid variable #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Geological and Tectonic Studies in Latin America #Light curve #Luminosity #Pair-instability supernova #Photometry (optics) #Spectral line #Supernova #astro-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/422986

published as Astrophys.J.613:1120-1132,2004 · 36 preprint pages including 18 figures. Near-IR photometry of the SN has been added to the paper. Scheduled to appear in ApJ vol. 613 (September 2004). High-resolution version available from http://www.nd.edu/~pgarnavi/sn99by/sn99by.ps

arxiv created 2004/08/23 · openalex publication_date 2004/10/01 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

We present UBVRIJHK photometry and optical spectroscopy of the so-called peculiar Type Ia supernova 1999by in NGC 2841. The observations began 1 week before visual maximum light, which is well defined by daily observations. The light curves and spectra are similar to those of the prototypical subluminous event SN 1991bg. We find that maximum light in B occurred on 1999 May 10.3 UT (JD 2,451,308.8 ± 0.3) with B = 13.66 ± 0.02 and a color of B max - V max = 0.51 ± 0.03. The late-time color implies minimal dust extinction from the host galaxy. Our photometry, when combined with the recent Cepheid distance to NGC 2841, gives a peak absolute magnitude of M B = -17.15 ± 0.23, making SN 1999by one of the least luminous Type Ia events ever observed. We estimate a decline rate parameter of Δ m 15 ( B ) = 1.90 mag, versus 1.93 for SN 1991bg, for which 1.10 is typical for so-called normal events. We compare SN 1999by with other subluminous events and find that the B max - V max color correlates strongly with the decline rate and may be a more sensitive indicator of luminosity than the fading rate for these objects. We find a good correlation between luminosity and the depth of the spectral feature at 580 nm, which had been attributed solely to Si II. We show that in cooler photospheres the 580 nm feature is dominated by Ti II, which provides a simple physical explanation for the correlation. Using only subluminous Type Ia supernovae, we derive a Hubble parameter of H 0 = 75 km s -1 Mpc -1 , consistent with values found from brighter events.

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