NOAO > Observing Info > Approved Programs > 2009B-0176
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NOAO > Observing Info > Approved Programs > 2009B-0176 |
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PI: Peter Garnavich, University of Notre Dame, pgarnavi@miranda.phys.nd.edu
Address: Physics Department, 225 Nieuwland Hall, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, US
CoI: Robert Nichol, University of Portsmouth
CoI: Joseph Gallagher, Louisana State University
CoI: Masao Sako, University of Pennsylvania
CoI: Joshua Frieman, University of Chicago
CoI: David Cinabro, Wayne State University
Title: Social Insecurity: What Influences Stellar Death in Old Populations?
Abstract:
We propose to directly measure the age and metallicity of the dominant
stellar populations in E/S0 galaxies that have hosted type Ia supernovae
discovered and studied during the SDSS-II Supernovae Survey. This experiment
will test if the peak luminosity of a type Ia supernovae depends on the time
since the progenitor was formed. Previous studies have used star-formation
rate as a stand-in for age or host luminosity as a stand-in for metallicity
and have focused on a "prompt" progenitor. But, recent direct measurements of
age and metallicty in local E/S0 hosts appear to show a strong correlation
between radioactive nickel production and age of the dominant population and
suggests a gap between the prompt explosions and the long-lived progenitors.
This study will also explore the influence of metallicity on the brightness
of SNIa which may be a source of systematic error in cosmological
measurements of dark energy. To accurately estimate the age/metallicity of
E/S0 galaxies at z=0.2 requires good signal-to-noise ratio absorption line
spectra achievable only with an 8-m class telescope.
National Optical Astronomy Observatory, 950 North Cherry Avenue, P.O. Box 26732, Tucson, Arizona 85726, Phone: (520) 318-8000, Fax: (520) 318-8360
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NOAO > Observing Info > Approved Programs > 2009B-0176 |
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