G5 Article dissertation
Supernovae in Dense and Dusty Environments
Authors: Kankare Erkki
Publisher: University of Turku
Publishing place: Turku
Publication year: 2013
ISBN: 978-951-29-5291-5
eISBN: 978-951-29-5292-2
Abstract
In this doctoral thesis supernovae in dense and dusty environments are studied, with an emphasis on core-collapse supernovae. The articles included in the thesis aim to increase our understanding of supernovae interacting with the circumstellar material and their place in stellar evolution. The results obtained have also importance in deriving core-collapse supernova rates with reliable extinction corrections, which are directly related to star formation rates and galaxy evolution. In other words, supernovae are used as a tool in the research of both stellar and galaxy evolution, both of which can be considered as fundamental basics for our understanding of the whole Universe. A detailed follow-up study of the narrow-line supernova 2009kn is presented in paper I, and its similarity to another controversial transient, supernova 1994W, is shown. These objects are clearly strongly interacting with relatively dense circumstellar matter, however their physical origin is quite uncertain. In paper I different explosion models are discussed. Discoveries from a search programme for highly obscured supernovae in dusty luminous infrared galaxies are presented in papers II and III. The search was carried out using laser guide star adaptive optics monitoring at near-infrared wavelengths. By comparing multi-band photometric follow-up observations to template light curves, the likely types and the host galaxy extinctions for the four supernovae discovered were derived. The optical depth of normal spiral galaxy disks were studied statistically and reported in paper IV. This is complementary work to studies such as the one presented in paper V, where the missing fractions of core-collapse supernovae were derived for both normal spiral galaxies and luminous infrared galaxies, to be used for correcting supernova rates both locally and as a function of redshift.
In this doctoral thesis supernovae in dense and dusty environments are studied, with an emphasis on core-collapse supernovae. The articles included in the thesis aim to increase our understanding of supernovae interacting with the circumstellar material and their place in stellar evolution. The results obtained have also importance in deriving core-collapse supernova rates with reliable extinction corrections, which are directly related to star formation rates and galaxy evolution. In other words, supernovae are used as a tool in the research of both stellar and galaxy evolution, both of which can be considered as fundamental basics for our understanding of the whole Universe. A detailed follow-up study of the narrow-line supernova 2009kn is presented in paper I, and its similarity to another controversial transient, supernova 1994W, is shown. These objects are clearly strongly interacting with relatively dense circumstellar matter, however their physical origin is quite uncertain. In paper I different explosion models are discussed. Discoveries from a search programme for highly obscured supernovae in dusty luminous infrared galaxies are presented in papers II and III. The search was carried out using laser guide star adaptive optics monitoring at near-infrared wavelengths. By comparing multi-band photometric follow-up observations to template light curves, the likely types and the host galaxy extinctions for the four supernovae discovered were derived. The optical depth of normal spiral galaxy disks were studied statistically and reported in paper IV. This is complementary work to studies such as the one presented in paper V, where the missing fractions of core-collapse supernovae were derived for both normal spiral galaxies and luminous infrared galaxies, to be used for correcting supernova rates both locally and as a function of redshift.
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