How old are SN Ia Progenitor Systems? New Observational Constraints on the Distribution of Time Delays from GALEX

Abstract

The time delay between the formation of the progenitor systems of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) and their detonation is a vital discriminant between the various progenitor scenarios that have been proposed for them. We use SDSS optical and GALEX ultraviolet observations of the early-type host galaxies of 21 nearby SNe Ia and quantify the presence or absence of any young stellar population to constrain the minimum time delay for each supernova. We find that early-type host galaxies lack `prompt' SNe Ia with time delays of <100 Myr and that ~70% SNe Ia have minimum time delays of 275 Myr -- 1.25 Gyr, with a median of 650 Myr, while at least 20% SNe Ia have minimum time delays of at least 1 Gyr at 95% confidence and two of these four SNe Ia are are likely older than 2 Gyr. The distribution of minimum time delays observed matches most closely the expectation for the single-degenerate channel with a main sequence donor. Furthermore, we do not find any evidence that sub-luminous SNe Ia are associated with long time delays.

Accepted for publication in MNRAS

References in corpus (13)

• Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Three Year Results: Implications for Cosmology
• Rates and properties of type Ia supernovae as a function of mass and star-formation in their host galaxies
• Supernova rates from the Southern inTermediate Redshift ESO Supernova Search (STRESS)
• Suppression of star formation in early-type galaxies by feedback from supermassive black holes
• The underluminous Type Ia Supernova 2005bl and the class of objects similar to SN 1991bg
• Young and Massive Binary Progenitors of Type Ia Supernovae and Their Circumstellar Matter
• On type Ia supernovae and the formation of single low-mass white dwarfs
• The Progenitors of Type Ia Supernovae
• The UV colours of high-redshift early-type galaxies: evidence for recent star formation and stellar mass assembly over the last 8 billion years
• Evidence for short-lived SN Ia progenitors
• The Chemical Distribution in a Subluminous Type Ia Supernova: HST Images of the SN 1885 Remnant
• The radial distribution of type Ia supernovae in early-type galaxies: implications for progenitor scenarios
• SN2007ax : An Extremely Faint Type Ia Supernova

Cited by in corpus (29)

• Observational clues to the progenitors of Type-Ia supernovae
• The Dependence of Type Ia Supernova Luminosities on their Host Galaxies
• Progenitors of type Ia supernovae
• Type-Ia supernova rates and the progenitor problem, a review
• Confirmation of a Star Formation Bias in Type Ia Supernova Distances and its Effect on Measurement of the Hubble Constant
• An upper limit on the contribution of accreting white dwarfs to the type Ia supernova rate
• The Local Hosts of Type Ia Supernovae
• Ages of Type Ia Supernovae Over Cosmic Time
• The supernova rate and delay time distribution in the Magellanic Clouds
• Supernovae in the Subaru Deep Field: the rate and delay-time distribution of type Ia supernovae out to redshift 2
• Evolving to Type Ia Supernovae with Short Delay Times
• The progenitors of Type Ia supernovae with long delay times
• The Ages of Type Ia Supernova Progenitors
• A comprehensive progenitor model for SNe Ia
• Tidally enhanced stellar wind: a way to make the symbiotic channel to Type Ia supernova viable
• Subluminous Type Ia Supernovae at High Redshift from the Supernova Legacy Survey
• The Hubble Space Telescope Cluster Supernova Survey: II. The Type Ia Supernova Rate in High-Redshift Galaxy Clusters
• Supernovae and their host galaxies -- VII. The diversity of Type Ia supernova progenitors
• Probing thermonuclear supernova explosions with neutrinos
• Type Ia Supernovae: Colors, Rates, and Progenitors
• The Delay Times of Type Ia Supernova
• Spatially Resolved Metal Loss from M31
• Early-type host galaxies of Type II and Ib Supernovae
• SNIa Host Galaxy Properties and the Dust Extinction Distribution
• WD+RG systems as the progenitors of Type Ia supernovae
• Large-field CO(1--0) observations toward the Galactic historical supernova remnants: a large cavity around Tycho's supernova remnant
• Possible Contribution of Magnetized White Dwarf Binaries to Type Ia Supernova Populations
• Spectral Energy Distribution of z>1 Type Ia Supernova Hosts in GOODS: Constraints on Evolutionary Delay and the Initial Mass Function
• The effect of metallicity on the delay-time distribution of type Ia supernova