The core-collapse supernova rate in Arp 299 revisited

Abstract

We present a study of the core‐collapse supernova (CCSN) rate in nuclei A and B1, of the luminous infrared galaxy (LIRG) Arp 299, based on ∼11 yr of Very Large Array (VLA) monitoring of their radio emission at 8.4 GHz. Significant variations in the nuclear radio flux density can be used to identify the CCSN activity in the absence of high‐resolution very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations. In the case of the B1‐nucleus, the small variations in its measured diffuse (synchrotron plus free–free) radio emission are below the fluxes expected from radio supernovae (RSNe), thus making it well‐suited to detect RSNe through flux density variability. In fact, we find strong evidence for at least three RSNe this way, which results in a lower limit for the CCSN rate (νSN) of >0.28+0.27−0.15 yr−1. This value agrees within the uncertainties with the infrared (IR) luminosity based SN rate estimate, and with previously reported radio estimates. In the A‐nucleus, we did not detect any significant variability and found a SN detection threshold luminosity of ≈3.1 × 1028 erg s−1 Hz−1, allowing only the detection of the most luminous RSNe known. Our method is basically blind to normal CCSN explosions occurring within the A‐nucleus, which result in too small variations in the nuclear flux density, remaining diluted by the strong diffuse emission of the nucleus itself. Additionally, we have attempted to find near‐IR (NIR) counterparts for the earlier reported RSNe in the Arp 299 nucleus A, by comparing NIR adaptive optics images from the Gemini‐N Telescope with contemporaneous observations from the European VLBI Network (EVN). However, we were not able to detect NIR counterparts for the reported radio SNe within the innermost regions of nucleus A. While our NIR observations were sensitive to typical CCSNe at ∼300 mas (or 70 pc projected distance) from the centre of the nucleus A, suffering from extinction up to AV∼ 15 mag, they were not sensitive to such highly obscured SNe within the innermost nuclear regions where most of the EVN sources were detected.

The nuclear starburst in Arp 299-A: from the 5.0 GHz VLBI radio light-curves to its core-collapse supernova rate

“…The 5. Alberdi et al 2006;Romero-Cañizales et al 2011). Our stacked image is sensitive to objects with a luminosity L 5 GHz ≥ 2.3 × 10 26 erg s −1 Hz −1 (five times the rms), and thus allows the detection of sources with a steady, faint radio emission that would otherwise go undetected.…”

The rate of supernovae at redshift 0.1–1.0

“…High angular resolution observations at near-IR (e.g. Mattila et al 2007;Kankare et al 2008Kankare et al , 2012 and radio (e.g., Pérez-Torres et al 2010;Romero-Cañizales et al 2011) wavelengths have recently been used to detect and characterise the hidden SN populations in the nearest LIRGs. Such studies are needed to constrain the complete rates, properties and extinction distributions towards the CC SNe buried in such dusty galaxies.…”

On the multiplicity of supernovae within host galaxies

“…Alonso-Herrero et al (2000). Through radio observations (Neff et al 2004; see also Pérez-Torres et al 2009;Ulvestad 2009;Romero-Cañizales et al 2011;Bondi et al 2012) the nucleus of component IC 694 has been dubbed a "SN factory" with an estimated CC SN rate of 0.1−1 events per year. The CC SN rate of the whole system has been estimated to be 1.5−1.9 SNe per year (Mattila et al 2012).…”