TOWARD CHARACTERIZATION OF THE TYPE IIP SUPERNOVA PROGENITOR POPULATION: A STATISTICAL SAMPLE OF LIGHT CURVES FROM Pan-STARRS1

Abstract

In recent years, wide-field sky surveys providing deep multi-band imaging have presented a new path for indirectly characterizing the progenitor populations of core-collapse supernovae (SN): systematic light curve studies. We assemble a set of 76 grizy-band Type IIP SN light curves from Pan-STARRS1, obtained over a constant survey program of 4 years and classified using both spectroscopy and machine learning-based photometric techniques. We develop and apply a new Bayesian model for the full multi-band evolution of each light curve in the sample. We find no evidence of a sub-population of fast-declining explosions (historically referred to as "Type IIL" SNe). However, we identify a highly significant relation between the plateau phase decay rate and peak luminosity among our SNe IIP. These results argue in favor of a single parameter, likely determined by initial stellar mass, predominantly controlling the explosions of red supergiants. This relation could also be applied for supernova cosmology, offering a standardizable candle good to an intrinsic scatter of 0.2 mag. We compare each light curve to physical models from hydrodynamic simulations to estimate progenitor initial masses and other properties of the Pan-STARRS1 Type IIP SN sample. We show that correction of systematic discrepancies between modeled and observed SN IIP light curve properties and an expanded grid of progenitor properties, are needed to enable robust progenitor inferences from multiband light curve samples of this kind. This work will serve as a pathfinder for photometric studies of core-collapse SNe to be conducted through future wide field transient searches.

Revisiting the Lick Observatory Supernova Search Volume-limited Sample: Updated Classifications and Revised Stripped-envelope Supernova Fractions

“…While Arcavi et al (2012) find there to be distinct SN IIP and SN IIL subclasses among the R-band light curves of 21 H-rich noninteracting Type II SNe, Anderson et al (2014) show that their sample of V -band light curves for 116 SNe II indicate that there is a continuous distribution of properties for these events. present an analysis of the early light curve rise for 57 events finding only a weak correlation between rise times and decline rates, Sanders et al (2015) and Valenti et al (2016) argue that there exists a continuous distribution of properties for SNe II and that there is no evidence for separate SNe IIP and SNe IIL subclasses, while Rubin & GalYam (2016) argue for a type II subclassification system based upon both the rise and the fall of the light curves and Faran et al (2014a) argue that a simple subclass definition based upon the light curve decline alone remains reasonable. Throughout this article, we group the SN IIP-like and SN IIL-like events under the label "SNe Type II," but when comparing to data from other sources we preserve the SN IIP/SN IIL labels if given by the original authors.…”

Asphericity, Interaction, and Dust in the Type Ii-P/Ii-L Supernova 2013ej in Messier 74

“…Although SN 2013ej was initially classified as an SN II-P (Leonard et al 2013;Valenti et al 2014), subsequent studies showed that the relatively fast decline rate during the recombination phase (∼1.2 mag in the first 50 days after rising up to the plateau; Valenti et al 2016) and some of the spectroscopic features appeared similar to those of SNe from the II-L class (Bose et al 2015;Huang et al 2015;Dhungana et al 2016;Valenti et al 2016). The distinction between SNII-L and II-P light curves is not always obvious (Anderson et al 2014;Sanders et al 2015); indeed, large samples have revealed a continuum of light-curve morphologies that are intermediate between sources classified as SNe II-P and SNe II-L. Thus, a simple separation criterion for the two classes is probably not valid .…”

Core-collapse supernova progenitor constraints using the spatial distributions of massive stars in local galaxies

“…Barbon, Ciatti & Rosino 1979), types II-P and II-L are now more commonly thought to occupy a continuum of different levels of mass loss primarily influenced by the initial mass of the progenitor (e.g. Anderson et al 2014;Sanders et al 2015;González-Gaitán et al 2015). Type IIn ('narrow lines') SNe are characterized by the presence of a dense circumstellar medium (CSM) at the time of explosion, resulting in strong interaction between the SN ejecta and the CSM (e.g.…”