Published November 2009 | Version v1
Journal article

AN INTENSIVE HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE SURVEY FOR z>1 TYPE Ia SUPERNOVAE BY TARGETING GALAXY CLUSTERS

  • 1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112 (United States)
  • 2. E. O. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States)
  • 3. Department of Physics, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States)
  • 4. Departmento de Astronomia, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Santiago (Chile)
  • 5. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)
  • 6. Hamilton College Department of Physics, Clinton, NY 13323 (United States)
  • 7. National Optical Astronomy Observatory, Tucson, AZ 85726-6732 (United States)
  • 8. Institute of Astronomy, Graduate School of Science, University of Tokyo 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-0015 (Japan)
  • 9. Michigan State University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, East Lansing, MI, 48824-2320 (United States)
  • 10. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States)
  • 11. Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy, 389 UCB, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309 (United States)
  • 12. Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 94064 (United States)
  • 13. Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States)
  • 14. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University Of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 3G1 Canada (Canada)
  • 15. Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637 (United States)
  • 16. Department of Astronomy, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-2055 (United States)

Description

We present a new survey strategy to discover and study high-redshift Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) using the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). By targeting massive galaxy clusters at 0.9 < z < 1.5, we obtain a twofold improvement in the efficiency of finding SNe compared to an HST field survey and a factor of 3 improvement in the total yield of SN detections in relatively dust-free red-sequence galaxies. In total, sixteen SNe were discovered at z>0.95, nine of which were in galaxy clusters. This strategy provides an SN sample that can be used to decouple the effects of host-galaxy extinction and intrinsic color in high-redshift SNe, thereby reducing one of the largest systematic uncertainties in SN cosmology.

Availability note (English)

Available from http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0004-6256/138/5/1271

Additional details

Identifiers

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online)
Journal Volume
138
Journal Issue
5
Journal Page Range
p. 1271-1283
ISSN
1538-3881

INIS

Country of Publication
United States
Country of Input or Organization
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
INIS RN
41046361
Subject category
S79: ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY;
Descriptors DEI
COLOR; COSMOLOGY; GALAXIES; GALAXY CLUSTERS; RED SHIFT; SUPERNOVAE; TELESCOPES
Descriptors DEC
BINARY STARS; ERUPTIVE VARIABLE STARS; OPTICAL PROPERTIES; ORGANOLEPTIC PROPERTIES; PHYSICAL PROPERTIES; STARS; VARIABLE STARS

Optional Information