Spectroscopy of High-Redshift Supernovae from the ESSENCE Project: The First 2 Years (original) (raw)
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SPECTROSCOPY OF HIGH-REDSHIFT SUPERNOVAE FROM THE ESSENCE PROJECT: THE FIRST FOUR YEARS
The Astronomical Journal, 2009
We present the results of spectroscopic observations from the ESSENCE high-redshift supernova (SN) survey during its first four years of operation. This sample includes spectra of all SNe Ia whose light curves were presented by and used in the cosmological analyses of and . The sample represents 273 hours of spectroscopic observations with 6.5-10-m-class telescopes of objects detected and selected for spectroscopy by the ESSENCE team. We present 174 spectra of 156 objects. Combining this sample with that of Matheson et al. , we have a total sample of 329 spectra of 274 objects. From this, we are able to spectroscopically classify 118 Type Ia SNe. As the survey has matured, the efficiency of classifying SNe Ia has remained constant while we have observed both higher-redshift SNe Ia and SNe Ia farther from maximum brightness. Examining the subsample of SNe Ia with host-galaxy redshifts shows that redshifts derived from only the SN Ia spectra are consistent with redshifts found from host-galaxy spectra. Moreover, the phases derived from only the SN Ia spectra are consistent with those derived from light-curve fits. By comparing our spectra to local templates, we find that the rate of objects similar to the overluminous SN 1991T and the underluminous SN 1991bg in our sample are consistent with that of the local sample. We do note, however, that we detect no object spectroscopically or photometrically similar to SN 1991bg. Although systematic effects could reduce the high-redshift rate we expect based on the low-redshift surveys, it is possible that SN 1991bg-like SNe Ia are less prevalent at high redshift.
Hubble Space Telescope Observations of Nine High-Redshift ESSENCE Supernovae
Astronomical Journal, 2005
1 Based in part on observations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. (AURA) under NASA contract NAS 5-26555. This research is associated with proposal We present broad-band light curves of nine supernovae ranging in redshift from 0.5 to 0.8. The supernovae were discovered as part of the ESSENCE project, and the light curves are a combination of Cerro Tololo 4-m and Hubble Space Telescope (HST ) photometry. On the basis of spectra and/or light-curve fitting, eight of these objects are definitely Type Ia supernovae, while the classification of one is problematic. The ESSENCE project is a five-year endeavor to discover about 200 high-redshift Type Ia supernovae, with the goal of tightly constraining the time average of the equation-of-state parameter [w = p/(ρc 2 )] of the "dark energy." To help minimize our systematic errors, all of our ground-based photometry is obtained with the same telescope and instrument. In 2003 the highest-redshift subset of ESSENCE supernovae was selected for detailed study with HST. Here we present the first photometric results of the survey. We find that all but one of the ESSENCE SNe have slowly declining light curves, and the sample is not representative of the low-redshift set of ESSENCE Type Ia supernovae. This is unlikely to be a sign of evolution in the population. We attribute the decline-rate distribution of HST events to a selection bias at the high-redshift edge of our sample and find that such a bias will infect other magnitude-limited SN Ia searches unless appropriate precautions are taken. from the light curves the absolute magnitudes (M) at maximum. The calibration of the absolute magnitudes is anchored using nearby SNe Ia whose luminosities and distances are consistent with the value of the Hubble constant used above. 20
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2012
In this first paper in a series we present 1298 low-redshift (z 0.2) optical spectra of 582 Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) observed from 1989 through 2008 as part of the Berkeley SN Ia Program (BSNIP). 584 spectra of 199 SNe Ia have well-calibrated light curves with measured distance moduli, and many of the spectra have been corrected for host-galaxy contamination. Most of the data were obtained using the Kast double spectrograph mounted on the Shane 3 m telescope at Lick Observatory and have a typical wavelength range of 3300-10,400Å, roughly twice as wide as spectra from most previously published datasets. We present our observing and reduction procedures, and we describe the resulting SN Database (SNDB), which will be an online, public, searchable database containing all of our fully reduced spectra and companion photometry. In addition, we discuss our spectral classification scheme (using the SuperNova IDentification code, SNID; Blondin & Tonry 2007), utilizing our newly constructed set of SNID spectral templates. These templates allow us to accurately classify our entire dataset, and by doing so we are able to reclassify a handful of objects as bona fide SNe Ia and a few other objects as members of some of the peculiar SN Ia subtypes. In fact, our dataset includes spectra of nearly 90 spectroscopically peculiar SNe Ia. We also present spectroscopic host-galaxy redshifts of some SNe Ia where these values were previously unknown. The sheer size of the BSNIP dataset and the consistency of our observation and reduction methods makes this sample unique among all other published SN Ia datasets and is complementary in many ways to the large, low-redshift SN Ia spectra presented by Matheson et al. 2008 and Blondin et al. (in preparation). In other BSNIP papers in this series, we will use these data to examine the relationships between spectroscopic characteristics and various observables such as photometric and host-galaxy properties.
Spectra of High-Redshift Type Ia Supernovae and a Comparison with Their Low-Redshift Counterparts
The Astronomical Journal, 2005
We present spectra for 14 high-redshift (0.17 < z < 0.83) supernovae, which were discovered by the Supernova Cosmology Project as part of a campaign to measure cosmological parameters. The spectra are used to determine the redshift and classify the supernova type, essential information if the supernovae are to be used for cosmological studies. Redshifts were derived either from the spectrum of the host galaxy or from the spectrum of the supernova itself. We present evidence that these supernovae are of Type Ia by matching to spectra of nearby supernovae. We find that the dates of the spectra relative to maximum light determined from this fitting process are consistent with the dates determined from the photometric light curves, and moreover the spectral time-sequence for SNe Type Ia at low and high redshift is indistinguishable. We also show that the expansion velocities measured from blueshifted Ca H&K are consistent with those measured for low-redshift Type Ia supernovae. From these first-level quantitative comparisons we find no evidence for evolution in SNIa properties between these low-and high-redshift samples. Thus even though our samples may not be complete, we conclude that there is a population of SNe Ia at high redshift whose spectral properties match those at low redshift.
Hubble Space Telescope Observations of Nine High-Redshift ESSENCE Supernovae1
Astronomical Journal, 2005
We present broad-band light curves of nine supernovae ranging in redshift from 0.5 to 0.8. The supernovae were discovered as part of the ESSENCE project, and the light curves are a combination of Cerro Tololo 4-m and Hubble Space Telescope (HST) photometry. On the basis of spectra and/or light-curve fitting, eight of these objects are definitely Type Ia supernovae, while the classification of one is problematic. The ESSENCE project is a five-year endeavor to discover about 200 high-redshift Type Ia supernovae, with the goal of tightly constraining the time average of the equation-of-state parameter [w = p/(rho c^2)] of the "dark energy." To help minimize our systematic errors, all of our ground-based photometry is obtained with the same telescope and instrument. In 2003 the highest-redshift subset of ESSENCE supernovae was selected for detailed study with HST. Here we present the first photometric results of the survey. We find that all but one of the ESSENCE SNe have slowly declining light curves, and the sample is not representative of the low-redshift set of ESSENCE Type Ia supernovae. This is unlikely to be a sign of evolution in the population. We attribute the decline-rate distribution of HST events to a selection bias at the high-redshift edge of our sample and find that such a bias will infect other magnitude-limited SN Ia searches unless appropriate precautions are taken.
The carnegie supernova project: analysis of the first sample of low-redshift type-Ia supernovae
The Astronomical …, 2010
An analysis of the first set of low-redshift (z<0.08) Type Ia supernovae monitored by the Carnegie Supernova Project between 2004 and 2006 is presented. The data consist of well-sampled, high-precision optical (ugriBV ) and near-infrared (NIR; Y JHK s ) light curves in a well-understood photometric system. Methods are described for deriving light-curve parameters, and for building template light curves which are used to fit Type Ia supernova data in the ugriBV Y JH bands. The intrinsic colors at maximum light are calibrated using a subsample of supernovae assumed to have suffered little or no reddening, enabling color excesses to be estimated for the full sample. The optical-NIR color excesses allow the properties of the reddening law in the host galaxies to be studied. A low average value of the total-to-selective absorption coefficient, R V ≈ 1.7, is derived when using the entire sample of supernovae. However, when the two highly reddened supernovae (SN 2005A and SN 2006X) in the sample are excluded, a value R V ≈ 3.2 is obtained, similar to the standard value for the Galaxy. The red colors of these two events are well matched by a model where multiple scattering of photons by circumstellar dust steepens the effective extinction law. The absolute peak magnitudes of the supernovae are studied in all bands using a two-parameter linear fit to the decline 1 This paper includes data gathered with the 6.5 m Magellan Telescopes located at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile.
Spectroscopy of twelve type Ia supernovae at intermediate redshift
Astronomy and Astrophysics, 2006
We present spectra of twelve Type Ia supernovae obtained in 1999 at the William Herschel Telescope and the Nordic Optical Telescope during a search for Type Ia supernovae (SN Ia) at intermediate redshift. The spectra range from z = 0.178 to z = 0.493, including five high signal-to-noise ratio SN Ia spectra in the still largely unexplored range 0.15 ≤ z ≤ 0.3. Most of the spectra were obtained before or around restframe B-band maximum light. None of them shows the peculiar spectral features found in low-redshift over-or under-luminous SN Ia. Expansion velocities of characteristic spectral absorption features such as SiII at 6355 Å, SII at 5640 Å and CaII at 3945 Å are found consistent with their low-z SN Ia counterparts. Key words. cosmology:observations-supernovae:general 1 current high-statistics programs such as ESSENCE (www.ctio.noao.edu/∼wsen) or SNLS (cfht.hawaii.edu/SNLS) now target number statistics of well measured SN Ia well above the several hundreds in large multi-year projects
Spectroscopic observations of eight supernovae at intermediate redshift
2007
Aims. We present spectra of six Type Ia and two Type II supernovae obtained in June 2002 at the William Herschel Telescope during a search for Type Ia supernovae (SN Ia) at intermediate redshift. Methods. Supernova type identification and phase determination are performed using a fitting technique based on a χ 2 minimization against a series of model templates. Results. The spectra range from z = 0.033 to z = 0.328, including one spectroscopically underluminous SN Ia at z = 0.033. This set of spectra significantly increases the sample of well-observed type SN Ia supernovae available in the range 0.15 < ∼ z < ∼ 0.35. Together with the twelve supernovae observed by our team in 1999 in the same redshift range, they form an homogeneous sample of seventeen type Ia supernovae with comparable signal-to-noise ratio and regular phase sampling in a still largely unexplored region of the redshift space.
Type Ia Supernova Cosmology in the Near-Infrared
Context. Type Ia Supernovae (SNe Ia) have been used as standardizable candles in the optical wavelengths to measure distances with an accuracy of ∼ 7% out to redshift z ∼ 1.5. There is evidence that in the near-infrared (NIR) wavelengths SNe Ia are even better standard candles, however, NIR observations are much more time-consuming. Aims. We aim to test whether the NIR peak magnitudes could be accurately estimated with only a single observation obtained close to maximum light, provided the time of B band maximum and the optical stretch parameter are known. Methods. We present multi-epoch U BVRI and single-epoch J and H photometric observations of 16 SNe Ia in the redshift range z = 0.037 − 0.183, doubling the leverage of the current SN Ia NIR Hubble diagram and the number of SNe beyond redshift 0.04. This sample was analyzed together with 102 NIR and 458 optical light curves (LCs) of normal SNe Ia from the literature.
SNLS spectroscopy: testing for evolution in type Ia supernovae
Astronomy and Astrophysics, 2008
Aims. We present a quantitative study of a new data set of high redshift Type Ia supernovae spectra, observed at the Gemini telescopes during the first 34 months of the Supernova Legacy Survey. During this time 123 supernovae candidates were observed, of which 87 have been identified as SNe Ia at a median redshift of z = 0.720. Spectra from the entire second year of the survey and part of the third year (59 total SNe candidates with 46 confirmed SNe Ia) are published here for the first time. The spectroscopic measurements made on this data set are used determine if these distant SNe comprise a population similar to those observed locally. Methods. Rest-frame equivalent width and ejection velocity measurements are made on four spectroscopic features. Corresponding measurements are presented for a set of 167 spectra from 24 low-z SNe Ia from the literature. Results. We show that there exists a sample at high redshift with properties similar to nearby SNe. The high-z measurements are consistent with the range of measurements at low-z and no significant difference was found between the distributions of measurements at low and high redsift for three of the features. The fourth feature displays a possible difference that should be investigated further. Correlations between Type Ia SNe properties and host galaxy morphology were also found to be similar at low and high z, and within each host galaxy class we see no evidence for redshift-evolution in SN properties. A new correlation between SNe Ia peak magnitude and the equivalent width of SiII absorption is presented. Tests on a sub-set of the SNLS SNe demonstrates that this correlation reduces the scatter in SNe Ia luminosity distances in a manner consistent with the lightcurve shape-luminosity corrections that are used for Type Ia SNe cosmology. Conclusions. We show that this new sample of SNLS SNe Ia has spectroscopic properties similar to nearby objects.