We use type-Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) discovered by the SDSS-II SN Survey to
search for dependencies between SN Ia properties and the projected distance to
the host galaxy center, using the distance as a proxy for local galaxy
properties (local star-formation rate, local metallicity, etc.). The sample
consists of almost 200 spectroscopically or photometrically confirmed SNe Ia at
redshifts below 0.25. The sample is split into two groups depending on the
morphology of the host galaxy. We fit light-curves using both MLCS2k2 and
SALT2, and determine color (AV, c) and light-curve shape (delta, x1) parameters
for each SN Ia, as well as its residual in the Hubble diagram. We then
correlate these parameters with both the physical and the normalized distances
to the center of the host galaxy and look for trends in the mean values and
scatters of these parameters with increasing distance. The most significant (at
the 4-sigma level) finding is that the average fitted AV from MLCS2k2 and c
from SALT2 decrease with the projected distance for SNe Ia in spiral galaxies.
We also find indications that SNe in elliptical galaxies tend to have narrower
light-curves if they explode at larger distances, although this may be due to
selection effects in our sample. We do not find strong correlations between the
residuals of the distance moduli with respect to the Hubble flow and the
galactocentric distances, which indicates a limited correlation between SN
magnitudes after standardization and local host metallicity.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal (33 pages, 5
figures, 8 tables
