Rates and progenitors of type Ia supernovae

Abstract......Page 4
List of Figures......Page 11
List of Tables......Page 21
I Background and Context......Page 23
1 Cosmology with Type Ia Supernovae......Page 25
1.1.2 SN Ia Light Curves......Page 26
1.1.3 Progenitor Models......Page 28
1.2 Non-Type Ia Supernovae......Page 33
1.3 Supernova Rates......Page 34
1.4 Cosmology with Redshifts and Luminosity Distance......Page 36
1.5 Needed Improvements for SN Ia Cosmology......Page 41
II The Nearby Supernova Factory......Page 43
2.1 Concept......Page 45
2.2.1 New SN Ia Luminosity Distance Indicator Parameterization......Page 47
2.2.2 Providing a Definitive Set of SN Ia Spectra......Page 49
2.3 Operational Strategy......Page 51
2.3.1 Detection......Page 52
2.3.2 Study......Page 54
2.4 Summary and Plan for Subsequent Chapters......Page 56
3.1 To catch a supernova......Page 57
3.2 Processing Steps toward Supernova Candidates......Page 59
3.4 Data Transfer from Palomar to LBL......Page 60
3.5 Data Processing of Palomar Images......Page 63
3.6 QUESTII Image Processing - Some Details......Page 68
3.7 Search Images......Page 70
3.9 Object Identification and Scoring......Page 71
3.10 Human Scanning of Supernova Candidates......Page 75
3.10.1 Scanning Interface......Page 80
3.11.1 Confirmation Spectrum......Page 81
3.12 Supernovae found to date by this method......Page 83
3.13 Acknowledgements......Page 84
4 Image Differencing to Find Supernovae: Subtractions......Page 85
4.2 Quality Control and Image Registration......Page 86
4.3 Image Masking......Page 87
4.3.2 Blooming Spikes, Diffraction Spikes, and Bad Columns......Page 90
4.4 Co-addition......Page 91
4.4.1 Union Co-addition......Page 92
4.5 Point Spread Function Convolution......Page 93
4.7 Actual Subtraction......Page 94
4.8 MAPS Catalog to reject known stars......Page 95
4.9 Future directions......Page 96
5.1 Introduction......Page 99
5.2.1 S2002-028 - An unusual variable object......Page 100
5.2.2 SN 2002cx......Page 101
5.3.1 A successful prototype search pipeline test: 2002--2003......Page 104
5.4 Current Status of SNfactory search -- 2004......Page 109
III Supernova Rates......Page 145
6.1 Motivation......Page 147
6.2 Introduction......Page 148
6.3 Supernova Rates from Supernova Searches......Page 149
6.4 The Nearby Supernova Factory Sample......Page 152
6.5 Percentage Increase Effect......Page 153
6.6 Redshift Distribution of SNfactory Supernovae......Page 155
6.7 Discovery Epoch of SNfactory SNe Ia......Page 160
6.8 A Quick SN Ia Rate Calculation......Page 168
6.9 The Right Way: Control-Time Monte Carlo Simulation......Page 170
6.9.1 Stretch Range......Page 171
6.9.2 Modeling of the Host Galaxy Population......Page 172
6.9.3 Milky Way Extinction......Page 174
6.9.4 Efficiency as Measured by Control-Time Monte Carlo......Page 176
6.10.1 Diversity of SN Ia Light Curves......Page 182
6.10.3 Search Efficiency and Type Identification......Page 183
6.10.5 Cosmological Parameters......Page 184
6.10.7 Malmquist Bias......Page 185
6.10.8 The Shaw Effect......Page 186
6.11 SN Ia Rate......Page 187
IV The Hybrid Supernova 2002ic......Page 193
7.1 Abstract......Page 195
7.2 Introduction......Page 196
7.3.1 Data processing and Discovery......Page 197
7.3.2 Photometry......Page 198
7.4 Light Curve of SN 2002ic......Page 200
7.5 Decomposition of SN Ia and CSM components......Page 201
7.6 Simple Scaling of the SN Ejecta-CSM Interaction......Page 202
7.7.1 Inferred CSM structure and Progenitor Mass-Loss History......Page 204
7.7.2 Reinterpretation of Past SNe IIn......Page 206
7.7.3 Relation to Proto-Planetary Nebulae?......Page 208
7.8 Conclusions......Page 209
7.9 Acknowledgments......Page 210
V Summary......Page 219
8 Conclusions and Future Directions......Page 221
VI References......Page 225
VII Appendices......Page 241
A.1 Abstract......Page 243
A.3 The Supernova Search Dataset......Page 244
A.4 Data Processing......Page 245
A.5 Results......Page 247
A.6 Conclusion......Page 248
B.1 Introduction......Page 251
B.3 QSO Catalogs......Page 252
B.4 QSO Photometry......Page 253
B.5 Power Spectrum of QSO Variability......Page 254
B.6 Discussion......Page 255
B.6.1 Cumulative Probability Amplitude......Page 256
B.7 Conclusions......Page 267
B.8 Acknowledgments......Page 272
C.2 Introduction......Page 273
C.3 Calibration Techniques......Page 274
C.4 SDSS Calibration......Page 276
C.5 Peter Nugent\'s NEAT Response Curve......Page 283
C.6 Landolt and Stetson Calibration......Page 284
C.8 Summary......Page 290
D.1 Introduction......Page 291
D.4 Electronic Ghosts Meet Sub-Optimal Dithering......Page 292
E.1 Summary......Page 300
E.2 Timing Tests......Page 301