Core-collapse supernovae ages and metallicities from emission-line diagnostics of nearby stellar populations

Massive stars are the main objects that illuminate H II regions and they evolve quickly to end their lives in core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe). Thus it is important to investigate the association between CCSNe and H II regions. In this paper, we present emission line diagnostics of the stellar populations around nearby CCSNe, that include their host H II regions, from the PMAS/PPAK Integral-field Supernova hosts COmpilation (PISCO). We then use BPASS stellar population models to determine the age, metallicity and gas parameters for H II regions associated with CCSNe, contrasting models that consider either single star evolution alone or incorporate interacting binaries. We find binary-star models, that allow for ionizing photon loss, provide a more realistic fit to the observed CCSN hosts with metallicities that are closer to those derived from the oxygen abundance in O3N2. We also find that type II and type Ibc SNe arise from progenitor stars of similar age, mostly from 7 to 45 Myr, which corresponds to stars with masses < 20 solar mass . However these two types SNe have little preference in their host environment metallicity measured by oxygen abundance or in progenitor initial mass. We note however that at lower metallicities supernovae are more likely to be of type II.Comment: 22 pages, 19 Figures, 6 Tables. Accepted by MNRAS. Comments welcom

Unresolved versus resolved: testing the validity of young simple stellar population models with VLT/MUSE observations of NGC 3603

CONTEXT. Stellar populations are the building blocks of galaxies including the Milky Way. The majority, if not all extragalactic studies are entangled with the use of stellar population models given the unresolved nature of their observation. Extragalactic systems contain multiple stellar populations with complex star formation histories. However, their study is mainly based upon the principles of simple stellar populations (SSP). Hence, it is critical to examine the validity of SSP models. AIMS. This work aims to empirically test the validity of SSP models. This is done by comparing SSP models against observations of spatially resolved young stellar population in the determination of its physical properties, i.e. age and metallicity. METHODS. Integral field spectroscopy of a young stellar cluster in the Milky Way, NGC 3603, is used to study the properties of the cluster both as a resolved and unresolved stellar population. The unresolved stellar population is analysed using the H$\alpha$ equivalent width as an age indicator, and the ratio of strong emission lines to infer metallicity. In addition, spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting using STARLIGHT, is used to infer these properties from the integrated spectrum. Independently, the resolved stellar population is analysed using the color-magnitude diagram (CMD) for age and metallicity determination. As the SSP model represents the unresolved stellar population, the derived age and metallicity are put to test whether they agree with those derived from resolved stars. RESULTS. The age and metallicity estimate of NGC 3603 derived from integrated spectroscopy are confirmed to be within the range of those derived from the CMD of the resolved stellar population, including other estimates found in the literature. The result from this pilot study supports the reliability of SSP models for studying unresolved young stellar populations.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, accepted to A&

The pursuit of the Hubble Constant using Type II Supernovae

The use of multiple independent methods with their own systematic uncertainties is crucial for resolving the ongoing tension between local and distant measurements of the Hubble constant ($H_{0}$). While type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) have historically been the most widely used distance indicators, recent studies have shown that type II supernovae (SNe II) can provide independent measurements of extragalactic distances with different systematic uncertainties. Unlike SNe Ia, the progenitors of SNe II are well understood, arising from the explosion of red supergiants in late-type galaxies via core-collapse. While SNe II do not exhibit the same level of uniformity in peak luminosity as SNe Ia, their differences can be calibrated using theoretical or empirical methods. Overall, this chapter presents a comprehensive overview of the use of SNe II as extragalactic distance indicators, with a particular focus on their application to measuring $H_0$ and addressing the Hubble tension. We describe the underlying theory of each method, discuss the challenges associated with them, including uncertainties in the calibration of the supernova absolute magnitude, and present a comprehensive list of the most updated Hubble constant measurements.Comment: Invited chapter for the edited book "Hubble Constant Tension" (Eds. E. Di Valentino and D. Brout, Springer Singapore, expected in 2024

Uncertainties in gas kinematics arising from stellar continuum modelling in integral field spectroscopy data: the case of NGC2906 observed with MUSE/VLT

We study how the use of several stellar subtraction methods and line fitting approaches can affect the derivation of the main kinematic parameters (velocity and velocity dispersion fields) of the ionized gas component. The target of this work is the nearby galaxy NGC 2906, observed with the MUSE instrument at Very Large Telescope. A sample of twelve spectra is selected from the inner (nucleus) and outer (spiral arms) regions, characterized by different ionization mechanisms. We compare three different methods to subtract the stellar continuum (FIT3D, STARLIGHT and pPXF), combined with one of the following stellar libraries: MILES, STELIB and GRANADA+MILES. The choice of the stellar subtraction method is the most important ingredient affecting the derivation of the gas kinematics, followed by the choice of the stellar library and by the line fitting approach. In our data, typical uncertainties in the observed wavelength and width of the H\alpha and [NII] lines are of the order of _rms \sim 0.1\AA\ and _rms \sim 0.2\AA\ (\sim 5 and 10km/s, respectively). The results obtained from the [NII] line seem to be slightly more robust, as it is less affected by stellar absorption than H\alpha. All methods considered yield statistically consistent measurements once a mean systemic contribution \Delta\bar\lambda=\Delta\bar\sigma=0.2xDelta_{MUSE} is added in quadrature to the line fitting errors, where \Delta_{MUSE} = 1.1\AA\ \sim 50 km/s denotes the instrumental resolution of the MUSE spectra. Although the subtraction of the stellar continuum is critical in order to recover line fluxes, any method (including none) can be used in order to measure the gas kinematics, as long as an additional component of 0.2 x Delta_MUSE is added to the error budget.Comment: 20 pages, 14 figure

Unraveling the Infrared Transient VVV-WIT-06: The Case for the Origin as a Classical Nova

Indexación: Scopus.E.Y.H. acknowledges the support provided by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. AST-1613472 and by the Florida Space Grant Consortium. L.G. acknowledges support from the FINCA visitor programme. The research work at the Physical Research Laboratory is funded by the Department of Space, Government of India. Facility: Magellan: Baade(FIRE).The enigmatic near-infrared transient VVV-WIT-06 underwent a large-amplitude eruption of unclear origin in 2013 July. Based on its light curve properties and late-time post-outburst spectra, various possibilities have been proposed in the literature for the origin of the object, namely a Type I supernova, a classical nova (CN), or a violent stellar merger event. We show that, of these possibilities, an origin in a CN outburst convincingly explains the observed properties of VVV-WIT-06. We estimate that the absolute K-band magnitude of the nova at maximum was M k = -8.2 ±0.5, its distance d = 13.35 ±2.18 kpc, and the extinction A v = 15.0 ±0.55 mag. © 2018. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/aae5d

Constraints on core-collapse supernova progenitors from explosion site integral field spectroscopy

Observationally, supernovae (SNe) are divided into subclasses pertaining to their distinct characteristics. This diversity reflects the diversity in the progenitor stars. It is not entirely clear how different evolutionary paths leading massive stars to become a SN are governed by fundamental parameters such as progenitor initial mass and metallicity. This paper places constraints on progenitor initial mass and metallicity in distinct core-collapse SN subclasses, through a study of the parent stellar populations at the explosion sites. Integral field spectroscopy (IFS) of 83 nearby SN explosion sites with a median distance of 18 Mpc has been collected and analysed, enabling detection and spectral extraction of the parent stellar population of SN progenitors. From the parent stellar population spectrum, the initial mass and metallicity of the coeval progenitor are derived by means of comparison to simple stellar population models and strong-line methods. Additionally, near-infrared IFS was employed to characterise the star formation history at the explosion sites. No significant metallicity differences are observed among distinct SN types. The typical progenitor mass is found to be highest for SN Ic, followed by type Ib, then types IIb and II. SN IIn is the least associated with young stellar populations and thus massive progenitors. However, statistically significant differences in progenitor initial mass are observed only when comparing SNe IIn with other subclasses. Stripped-envelope SN progenitors with initial mass estimate lower than 25~$M_\odot$ are found; these are thought to be the result of binary progenitors. Confirming previous studies, these results support the notion that core-collapse SN progenitors cannot arise from single-star channel only, and both single and binary channels are at play in the production of core-collapse SNe. [ABRIDGED]Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures, accepted to A&

Evidence of ongoing radial migration in NGC 6754: Azimuthal variations of the gas properties

Understanding the nature of spiral structure in disk galaxies is one of the main, and still unsolved questions in galactic astronomy. However, theoretical works are proposing new testable predictions whose detection is becoming feasible with recent development in instrumentation. In particular, streaming motions along spiral arms are expected to induce azimuthal variations in the chemical composition of a galaxy at a given galactic radius. In this letter we analyse the gas content in NGC 6754 with VLT/MUSE data to characterise its 2D chemical composition and H$\alpha$ line-of-sight velocity distribution. We find that the trailing (leading) edge of the NGC 6754 spiral arms show signatures of tangentially-slower, radially-outward (tangentially-faster, radially-inward) streaming motions of metal-rich (poor) gas over a large range of radii. These results show direct evidence of gas radial migration for the first time. We compare our results with the gas behaviour in a $N$-body disk simulation showing spiral morphological features rotating with a similar speed as the gas at every radius, in good agreement with the observed trend. This indicates that the spiral arm features in NGC 6754 may be transient and rotate similarly as the gas does at a large range of radii.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in ApJL 2016 September 2