No Arabic abstract
We present $UBVRI$ CCD photometry and optical spectra of the type Ia supernova SN 2003hx which appeared in the galaxy NGC 2076, obtained till $sim$ 146 days after the epoch of $B$ band maximum. The supernova reached at maximum brightness in $B$ band on JD 245 2893 $pm$ 1.0 with an apparent magnitude of 14.92 $pm$ 0.01 mag which was estimated by making template fits to the light curves. SN 2003hx is an example of a highly reddened supernova with $E(B-V)$ = 0.56 $pm$ 0.23. We estimate $R_v$ = 1.97 $pm$ 0.54 which indicates the small size of dust particles as compared to their galactic counterparts. The luminosity decline rate is $Delta m_{15}(B)$ = 1.17 $pm$ 0.12 mag and the absolute $B$ band magnitude obtained from the luminosity versus decline rate relation (Phillips et al. 1999) is $M^B_{max}$ = -19.20 $pm$ 0.18 mag. The peak bolometric luminosity indicates that $sim$ 0.66 $M_odot$ mass of $^{56}$ Ni was ejected by the supernova. The spectral evolution indicates the supernova to be a normal type Ia event.
We present optical photometric and spectroscopic results of supernova SN 2004ab, a highly reddened normal type Ia supernova. The total reddening is estimated as $E(B-V)$ = 1.70 $pm$ 0.05 mag. The intrinsic decline rate parameter, $Delta m_{15}(B)_text{true}$ is 1.27 $pm$ 0.05, and $B$-band absolute magnitude at maximum $M_{B}^{text{max}}$ is $-$19.31 $pm$ 0.25 mag. The host galaxy NGC 5054 is found to exhibit anomalous extinction with very low value of $R_V$ = 1.41 $pm$ 0.06 in the direction of SN 2004ab. Peak bolometric luminosity is derived as $log L_text{bol}^text{max}$ = 43.10 $pm$ 0.07 erg,s$^{-1}$. The photospheric velocity measured from absorption minimum of Si,{sc ii} $lambda$6355 line shows a velocity gradient of $dot{v}$ = 90 km,s$^{-1}$,d$^{-1}$, indicating that SN 2004ab is a member of the high velocity gradient (HVG) subgroup. The ratio of strength of Si,{sc ii} $lambda$5972 and $lambda$6355 absorption lines, $cal R$(Si,{sc ii}) is estimated as 0.37, while their pseudo equivalent widths suggest that SN 2004ab belongs to broad line (BL) type subgroup.
Correction of Type Ia Supernova brightnesses for extinction by dust has proven to be a vexing problem. Here we study the dust foreground to the highly reddened SN 2012cu, which is projected onto a dust lane in the galaxy NGC 4772. The analysis is based on multi-epoch, spectrophotometric observations spanning 3,300 - 9,200 {AA}, obtained by the Nearby Supernova Factory. Phase-matched comparison of the spectroscopically twinned SN 2012cu and SN 2011fe across 10 epochs results in the best-fit color excess of (E(B-V), RMS) = (1.00, 0.03) and total-to-selective extinction ratio of (RV , RMS) = (2.95, 0.08) toward SN 2012cu within its host galaxy. We further identify several diffuse interstellar bands, and compare the 5780 {AA} band with the dust-to-band ratio for the Milky Way. Overall, we find the foreground dust-extinction properties for SN 2012cu to be consistent with those of the Milky Way. Furthermore we find no evidence for significant time variation in any of these extinction tracers. We also compare the dust extinction curve models of Cardelli et al. (1989), ODonnell (1994), and Fitzpatrick (1999), and find the predictions of Fitzpatrick (1999) fit SN 2012cu the best. Finally, the distance to NGC4772, the host of SN 2012cu, at a redshift of z = 0.0035, often assigned to the Virgo Southern Extension, is determined to be 16.6$pm$1.1 Mpc. We compare this result with distance measurements in the literature.
Observations of the recent SN 1991bg in the elliptical galaxy NGC 5490 show that this objects closely resembles, both photometrically and spectroscopically, the faint SNIa 1991bg. The two objects have similar light curves, which do not show secondary maxima in the near IR as normal type Ia supernovae. The host galaxy, NGC5490, lies in the Hubble flow. Adopting for SN1997cn a reddening E(B-V)=0, the absolute magnitude is faint: MV = -17.98 using Ho=65 and MV = -17.40 using Ho=85 km/(s Mpc). The latter value is in close agreement with the absolute magnitude of SN 1991bg on the SBF--PNLF--TF distance scale. The photospheric spectra of the two SNe show the same peculiarities, the deep TiII trough between 4000 and 4500A, the strong CaII IR triplet, the narrow absorption at about 5700A and the slow expansion velocity. In analogy to SN 1991bg the observed spectrum of SN1997cn has been successfully modeled by scaling down the W7 model by a factor of 2, assuming a rise time to B maximum of 18 days, a photospheric velocity and an effective temperature low compared to normal SNIa. The influence of the distance scale adopted on the input parameters of the best fit model is also discussed. These data demonstrate that peculiar SNIa like SN 1991bg are not once--in--a--lifetime events and that deep SN searches can be contaminated by underluminous SN Ia in a fairly large volume.
Spectroscopic and photometric observations of the nearby Type Ia Supernova (SN Ia) SN 2014J are presented. Spectroscopic observations were taken -8 to +10 d relative to B-band maximum, using FRODOSpec, a multi-purpose integral-field unit spectrograph. The observations range from 3900 AA to 9000 AA. SN 2014J is located in M82 which makes it the closest SN Ia studied in at least the last 28 years. It is a spectrosopically normal SN Ia with high velocity features. We model the spectra of SN 2014J with a Monte Carlo (MC) radiative transfer code, using the abundance tomography technique. SN 2014J is highly reddened, with a host galaxy extinction of E(B-V)=1.2 (R_V=1.38). It has a $Delta$m_15(B) of 1.08$pm$0.03 when corrected for extinction. As SN 2014J is a normal SN Ia, the density structure of the classical W7 model was selected. The model and photometric luminosities are both consistent with B-band maximum occurring on JD 2456690.4$pm$0.12. The abundance of the SN 2014J behaves like other normal SN Ia, with significant amounts of silicon (12% by mass) and sulphur (9% by mass) at high velocities (12300 km s$^{-1}$) and the low-velocity ejecta (v<6500 km s$^{-1}$) consists almost entirely of $^{56}$Ni.
(Original) Recent high-resolution spectra of the Type Ia SN 2006X have revealed the presence of time-variable and blueshifted Na I D features, interpreted by Patat et al. as originating in circumstellar material within the progenitor system. The variation seen in SN 2006X induces relatively large changes in the total Na I D equivalent width ($Deltarm{EW}approx 0.5 unicode{x212B}$ in just over two weeks), that would be detectable at lower resolutions. We have used a large data set comprising 2400 low-resolution spectra of 450 Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) obtained by the CfA Supernova Program to search for variable Na I D features. Out of the 31 SNe Ia (including SN 2006X) in which we could have detected similar EW variations, only one other (SN 1999cl) shows variable Na I D features, with an even larger change over a similar ~10-day timescale ($Deltarm{EW} = 1.66 pm 0.21 unicode{x212B}$). Interestingly, both SN 1999cl and SN 2006X are the two most highly-reddened objects in our sample, raising the possibility that the variability is connected to dusty environments. (Erratum) The large variation in the Na I D equivalent width observed in SN 1999cl results in fact from a measurement error. Our new measurements show that the EW variation is significantly lower, at $0.43 pm 0.14 unicode{x212B}$. While the EW variation remains statistically significant (3.1$sigma$ different from zero), it is now below the detection threshold of 0.5 $unicode{x212B}$ derived from the Monte Carlo simulations published in the original paper. As a result, SN 1999cl should no longer be considered as an object displaying variable Na I D lines in our study. The fraction of SNe Ia in our sample displaying Na I D lines thus goes from $sim$6% (2/31) in the original study to $sim$3% (1/31) in the revised analysis, SN 2006X being the only SN Ia in our sample with variable Na I D lines.