Publications (29)
Supernova 2011fe from an Exploding Carbon-Oxygen White Dwarf Star
Peter E. Nugent, Mark Sullivan, S. Bradley Cenko +36
Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) have been used empirically as standardized candles to reveal the accelerating universe even though fundamental details, such as the nature of the progen…
Discovery, Progenitor & Early Evolution of a Stripped Envelope Supernova iPTF13bvn
Yi Cao, Mansi M. Kasliwal, Iair Arcavi +24
The intermediate Palomar Transient Factory reports our discovery of a young supernova, iPTF13bvn, in the nearby galaxy, NGC5806 (22.5Mpc). Our spectral sequence in the optical and…
Robotic reverberation mapping of the broad-line radio galaxy 3C 120
Michael Hlabathe, David Starkey, Keith Horne +10
We carried out photometric and spectroscopic observations of the well-studied broad-line radio galaxy 3C 120 with the Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO) global robotic telescope network…
Spectroscopic confirmation of the dwarf spheroidal galaxy d0944+71 as a member of the M81 group of galaxies
Elisa Toloba, David Sand, Puragra Guhathakurta +3
We use Keck/DEIMOS spectroscopy to measure the first velocity and metallicity of a dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxy beyond the Local Group using resolved stars. Our target, d0944+71,…
The Very Young Type Ia Supernova 2013dy: Discovery, and Strong Carbon Absorption in Early-Time Spectra
WeiKang Zheng, Jeffrey M. Silverman, Alexei V. Filippenko +20
The Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) 2013dy in NGC 7250 (d ~ 13.7 Mpc) was discovered by the Lick Observatory Supernova Search. Combined with a prediscovery detection by the Italian Super…
CCCP and MENeaCS: (updated) weak-lensing masses for 100 galaxy clusters
Ricardo Herbonnet, Cristóbal Sifón, Henk Hoekstra +7
Large area surveys have detected significant samples of galaxy clusters that can be used to constrain cosmological parameters, provided that the masses of the clusters are measured…
All Puffed Up: Exploring Ultra-diffuse Galaxy Origins through Galaxy Interactions
Catherine Fielder, Michael Jones, David Sand +5
We present new follow-up observations of two ultra-diffuse galaxies (UDGs) selected for their distorted morphologies and tidal features, suggestive of tidal influence. Using Hubble…
Type Ia Supernovae: Colors, Rates, and Progenitors
Epson Heringer, Chris Pritchet, Jason Kezwer +3
The rate of type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) in a galaxy depends not only on stellar mass, but also on star formation history. Here we show that two simple observational quantities ($g-…
SN 2013aa and SN 2017cbv: Two Sibling Type Ia Supernovae in the spiral galaxy NGC 5643
Christopher R Burns, Chris Ashall, Carlos Contreras +26
We present photometric and spectroscopic observations of SN 2013aa and SN 2017cbv, two nearly identical type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) in the host galaxy NGC 5643. The optical photome…
2FGL J0846.0+2820: A new neutron star binary with a giant secondary and variable -ray emission
Samuel J. Swihart, Jay Strader, Tyrel J. Johnson +11
We present optical photometric and spectroscopic observations of the likely stellar counterpart to the unassociated \emph{Fermi}-Large Area Telescope (LAT) -ray source 2FGL J08…
Type II supernova energetics and comparison of light curves to shock-cooling models
Adam Rubin, Avishay Gal-Yam, Annalisa De Cia +37
During the first few days after explosion, Type II supernovae (SNe) are dominated by relatively simple physics. Theoretical predictions regarding early-time SN light curves in the…
Multi-Messenger Astronomy with Extremely Large Telescopes
Ryan Chornock, Philip S. Cowperthwaite, Raffaella Margutti +82
The field of time-domain astrophysics has entered the era of Multi-messenger Astronomy (MMA). One key science goal for the next decade (and beyond) will be to characterize gravitat…
On the progenitor of the Type Ic SN 2013dk in the Antennae Galaxies
Nancy Elias-Rosa, Andrea Pastorello, Justyn R. Maund +7
We report the results of our search for the progenitor candidate of SN 2013dk, a Type Ic supernova (SN) that exploded in the Antennae Galaxy system. We compare pre-explosion Hubble…
A tidally disrupting dwarf galaxy in the halo of NGC 253
Elisa Toloba, David Sand, Kristine Spekkens +7
We report the discovery of Scl-MM-Dw2, a new dwarf galaxy at a projected separation of 50 kpc from NGC 253, as part of the PISCeS (Panoramic Imaging Survey of Centaurus and S…
SN 2016dsg: A Thermonuclear Explosion Involving A Thick Helium Shell
Yize Dong, Stefano Valenti, Abigail Polin +29
A thermonuclear explosion triggered by a helium-shell detonation on a carbon-oxygen white dwarf core has been predicted to have strong UV line blanketing at early times due to the…
The Contribution of Halos with Different Mass Ratios to the Overall Growth of Cluster-Sized Halos
Doron Lemze, Marc Postman, Shy Genel +39
We provide a new observational test for a key prediction of the ÎCDM cosmological model: the contributions of mergers with different halo-to-main-cluster mass ratios to cluster-si…
LoCuSS: First Results from Strong-lensing Analysis of 20 Massive Galaxy Clusters at z~0.2
Johan Richard, Graham P. Smith, Jean-Paul Kneib +13
We present a statistical analysis of a sample of 20 strong lensing clusters drawn from the Local Cluster Substructure Survey (LoCuSS), based on high resolution Hubble Space Telesco…
SN 2013ab : A normal type IIP supernova in NGC 5669
Subhash Bose, Stefano Valenti, Kuntal Misra +13
We present densely-sampled ultraviolet/optical photometric and low-resolution optical spectroscopic observations of the type IIP supernova 2013ab in the nearby (24 Mpc) galax…
AT 2020iko: a WZ Sge-type DN candidate with an anomalous precursor event
Monika Soraisam, Sarah DeSantis, Chien-Hsiu Lee +11
The ongoing Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) survey is generating a massive alert rate from a variety of optical transients and variable stars, which are being filtered down to subs…
Type Ibn Supernovae Show Photometric Homogeneity and Spectral Diversity at Maximum Light
Griffin Hosseinzadeh, Iair Arcavi, Stefano Valenti +34
Type Ibn supernovae (SNe) are a small yet intriguing class of explosions whose spectra are characterized by low-velocity helium emission lines with little to no evidence for hydrog…
Red and Reddened: Ultraviolet through Near-Infrared Observations of Type Ia Supernova 2017erp
Peter J. Brown, Griffin Hosseinzadeh, Saurabh W. Jha +20
We present space-based ultraviolet/optical photometry and spectroscopy with the Swift Ultra-Violet/Optical Telescope and Hubble Space Telescope, respectively, along with ground-bas…
SN 2021hpr: A Normal Type Ia Supernova Showing Excess Emission in the Early Rising Phase
Abdusamatjan Iskandar, Xiaofeng Wang, Ali Esamdin +37
We present extensive optical observations of a nearby Type Ia supernova (SN Ia), SN 2021hpr, located in the spiral galaxy NGC 3147 at a distance of 45 Mpc. Our observations…
Extended Structure and Fate of the Nucleus in Henize 2-10
Dieu D. Nguyen, Anil C. Seth, Amy E. Reines +3
We investigate the structure and nuclear region of the black hole (BH) hosting galaxy Henize2-10. Surface brightness (SB) profiles are analyzed using Magellan/Megacam - and -…
Development of the Arizona Robotic Telescope Network
Benjamin J. Weiner, David Sand, Paul Gabor +9
The Arizona Robotic Telescope Network (ARTN) project is a long term effort to develop a system of telescopes to carry out a flexible program of PI observing, survey projects, and t…
A statistical analysis of circumstellar material in Type Ia supernovae
Kate Maguire, Mark Sullivan, Ferdinando Patat +42
A key tracer of the elusive progenitor systems of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) is the detection of narrow blueshifted time-varying Na I D absorption lines, interpreted as evidence o…
Evolution of the dust in V4332 Sagittarii
Dipankar. P. K. Banerjee, Joseph A. Nuth, Karl A. Misselt +6
An eruptive nova-like event took place in 1994 in the stellar-merger candidate V4332 Sgr. Following the eruption, dust consisting of refractory silicate rich dust grains containing…
JWST Nebular Spectroscopy of SN 2023qov: Circumstellar Dust Emission in a Normal Type Ia Supernova
Colin W. Macrie, Conor Larison, Huei Sears +42
We present panchromatic observations of the Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) 2023qov, ranging from 2 weeks before to 1 year after maximum light. \textit{JWST} near- and mid-in…
The Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope: 100 Hubbles for the 2020s
Rachel Akeson, Lee Armus, Etienne Bachelet +103
The Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) is a 2.4m space telescope with a 0.281 deg^2 field of view for near-IR imaging and slitless spectroscopy and a coronagraph designe…
The DECam MAGIC Survey: A Wide-field Photometric Metallicity Study of the Sculptor Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy
FabrÃcia O. Barbosa, Anirudh Chiti, Guilherme Limberg +26
The metallicity distribution function and internal chemical variations of a galaxy are fundamental to understand its formation and assembly history. In this work, we analyze photom…