Browsing by Author "Stritzinger, Maximilian D."

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    CHARACTERIZING THE V-BAND LIGHT-CURVES OF HYDROGEN-RICH TYPE II SUPERNOVAE
    (IOP PUBLISHING LTD, 2014) Anderson, Joseph P.; Gonzalez Gaitan, Santiago; Hamuy, Mario; Gutierrez, Claudia P.; Stritzinger, Maximilian D.; Olivares, Felipe E.; Phillips, Mark M.; Schulze, Steve; Antezana, Roberto; Bolt, Luis; Campillay, Abdo; Castellon, Sergio; Contreras, Carlos; de Jaeger, Thomas; Folatelli, Gaston; Foerster, Francisco; Freedman, Wendy L.; Gonzalez, Luis; Hsiao, Eric; Krzeminski, Wojtek; Krisciunas, Kevin; Maza, Jose; McCarthy, Patrick; Morrell, Nidia I.; Persson, Sven E.; Roth, Miguel; Salgado, Francisco; Suntzeff, Nicholas B.; Thomas Osip, Joanna
    We present an analysis of the diversity of V-band light-curves of hydrogen-rich type II supernovae. Analyzing a sample of 116 supernovae, several magnitude measurements are defined, together with decline rates at different epochs, and time durations of different phases. It is found that magnitudes measured at maximum light correlate more strongly with decline rates than those measured at other epochs: brighter supernovae at maximum generally have faster declining light-curves at all epochs. We find a relation between the decline rate during the "plateau" phase and peak magnitudes, which has a dispersion of 0.56 mag, offering the prospect of using type II supernovae as purely photometric distance indicators. Our analysis suggests that the type II population spans a continuum from low-luminosity events which have flat light-curves during the "plateau" stage, through to the brightest events which decline much faster. A large range in optically thick phase durations is observed, implying a range in progenitor envelope masses at the epoch of explosion. During the radioactive tails, we find many supernovae with faster declining light-curves than expected from full trapping of radioactive emission, implying low mass ejecta. It is suggested that the main driver of light-curve diversity is the extent of hydrogen envelopes retained before explosion. Finally, a new classification scheme is introduced where hydrogen-rich events are typed as simply "SN II" with an "s(2)" value giving the decline rate during the "plateau" phase, indicating its morphological type.
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    POLARIMETRY OF THE SUPERLUMINOUS SUPERNOVA LSQ14MO: NO EVIDENCE FOR SIGNIFICANT DEVIATIONS FROM SPHERICAL SYMMETRY
    (IOP PUBLISHING LTD, 2015) Leloudas, Giorgos; Patat, Ferdinando; Maund, Justyn R.; Hsiao, Eric; Malesani, Daniele; Schulze, Steve; Contreras, Carlos; D Ugarte Postigo, Antonio; Sollerman, Jesper; Stritzinger, Maximilian D.; Taddia, Francesco; Wheeler, J. Craig; Gorosabel, Javier
    We present the first polarimetric observations of a Type I superluminous supernova (SLSN). LSQ14mo was observed with VLT/FORS2 at five different epochs in the V band, with the observations starting before maximum light and spanning 26 days in the rest frame (z. = 0.256). During this period, we do not detect any statistically significant evolution (<2 sigma) in the Stokes parameters. The average values we obtain, corrected for interstellar polarization in the Galaxy, are Q = -0.01% (+/- 0.15%) and U = -0.50% (+/- 0.14%). This low polarization can be entirely due to interstellar polarization in the SN host galaxy. We conclude that, at least during the period of observations and at the optical depths probed, the photosphere of LSQ14mo does not present significant asymmetries, unlike most lower-luminosity hydrogen-poor SNe Ib/c. Alternatively, it is possible that we may have observed LSQ14mo from a special viewing angle. Supporting spectroscopy and photometry confirm that LSQ14mo is a typical SLSN I. Further studies of the polarization of Type I SLSNe are required to determine whether the low levels of polarization are a characteristic of the entire class and to also study the implications for the proposed explosion models.