1
Mul$band Photometry in the Early Detec$on of Type Ia SNe for WFIRST Molly Grabill Astronomy and Physics [email protected] Science, Discovery and the Universe Abstract and Research Ques$on The Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) is an astrophysics mission presently conducGng pre-phase A studies. One of the primary scienGfic mission goals for WFIRST is to study the effect of dark energy on the evoluGon of the universe. The WFIRST’s Type Ia Supernovae (SNe) Survey will answer that quesGon by using the Wide-Field Instrument to measure the distance and redshiQ of the SNe to observe how the expansion of the universe is acceleraGng. Only Ia SNe are useful for this purpose. Poznanski et al. (2002) developed a new classificaGon method, finding that SNe of different types occupied different locaGons in color-color diagrams. Their study uGlized the Johnson-Cousins UBVRI filters (e.g. a plot of B-V colors vs. R-I colors) to observe how the color signature of a SN varies depending on type. In this project, the spectral templates from different types of SNe were used to generate color-color diagrams using the near-IR filters that will be in the WFIRST observatory, to find the unique signatures of each type of SNe. We report results from a study of filter combinaGons, and how these allow for the development of criteria that discriminate against the majority of non-Ia SNe early in their evoluGon. This technique enables early selecGon of a fairly pure SN-Ia sample so that follow-up observaGons of Ia spectra can be obtained efficiently. By using the filter comparisons J-H vs. H-F, Y-J vs. J-H, and Z- Y vs. Y-J in the color-color plots, it was discovered that Type Ia SNe follow a unique path where they would brighten in the bluer, near-infrared wavelengths before peak. This can be seen by the leQward movement from Day -19 to Day 0 on the graphs. This type of movement is characterisGc for the Ia SNe, and is not exhibited in the pre-peak evoluGon of the other types of SNe. This unique signature will allow for early idenGficaGon of Type Ia SNe for the WFIRST. Background: Ia SNe Among all the different types of supernovae studied in this experiment, Type Ia are the most unique. They contain no hydrogen, but a singly ionized silicon line near peak light. They also are the only type of SNe that come from thermal runaway, a process that occurs when a white dwarf and another star are locked in a binary orbit close enough that mass begins to accrete from one star onto the white dwarf. Once the white dwarf reaches its criGcal mass at the Chandrasekhar limit, it explodes, forming the Type Ia SNe. This type of formaGon causes their unique property as “standard candles”: they consistently explode at a similar absolute magnitude (-19.3<M<-18.3). This variaGon in intrinsic brightness is correlated with the shape of the light curve, so measurements of the evoluGon of each SN can be used to measure its distance with an uncertainty of only a few percent. The distance measurements will be used to fulfill one of the WFIRST science goals: understanding the nature of dark energy. Methodology To complete the tasks required of the experiment, I developed mulGple pieces of soQware in Python that followed the subsequent steps: Read in a SN template Normalize the template spectra to a given B magnitude (B = –19.3 was used in this experiment) Apply redshiQ to normalized spectra input (z=1 was used) Compute magnitudes through list of desired WFIRST filters at a specific Gme Create an array of filter comparison values based upon idenGfied filters Plot final color-color diagram Discussion of Graphs The goal of this project was to uGlize color-color filter graphs to develop a method of easily and quickly idenGfying Ia SNe, based upon their unique signature. Three graphs were created that cover the spectrum of near and short-wavelength infrared filters, and over all of the graphs, the Ia SNe exhibited two significant characterisGcs. First, early points in the evoluGon (Day –19->0) were all in the ‘bluest’ region of the plots. This disGnguished Ia from all but II-P SNe (and II-L in the J-H vs. H-F plot). What made the Type Ia unique was the direcGon that it moved. The II-P & II-L SN moved along the +X axis, whether it was Y- J, J-H, or H-F, indicaGng that it was gradually geong redder over Gme. The Type Ia moved in the opposite direcGon unGl a few days aQer the peak emission, aQer which their evoluGon would follow the same trend of reddening as the other types of SNe. The implicaGons of this are powerful and could be uGlized by WFIRST aQer launch. It appears that the posiGon and moGon in color-color space can be used to determine the spectral type of SNe early in their evoluGon. This would enable WFIRST to select a fairly pure SN-Ia sample using only imaging data, so that follow-up observaGons of Ia spectra could be conducted with ease. Only type Ia SNe can be used for cosmology and dark energy experiments, so it is crucial that WFIRST is able to differenGate highly-redshiQed SNe so the proper measurements are taken. References/ Acknowledgements Kessler, R., et al. 2009, PASP 121, 1028 Poznanski, D., et al. 2002, PASP 114, 833 I would like to thank Dr. Jeffrey Kruk for his guidance and paGence with my constant astronomy quesGons. I would also like to thank WFIRST project managers Kevin Grady and Cathy Peddie for their support and enthusiasm throughout my internship. I would finally like to thank Dr. Alan Peel for his mentorship through this process. Conclusion This project examined the use of color-color diagrams to determine the type of a supernova at early Gmes, and found that it appears promising for disGnguishing Ia SNe of interest for cosmology from the other, more numerous, types of SNe. This technique requires only imaging data for SN detecGon and typing, which simplifies WFIRST design and operaGons. Future studies will address the impact of uncertainGes in quanGGes such as: dust exGncGon (in both the host galaxy and in the Milky Way), flux measurements, and in the SN redshiQ. These studies will help determine the details of the necessary observaGons to be made by WFIRST, and what ancillary data may be required. Figure 3: SN 1994D seen in the lower leQ corner of galaxy NGC 4526. An example of the high luminosity of a Type Ia SN at peak. Source: Hubblesite Figure 2: The Tarantula Nebula: a supernova remnant with star-forming regions Source: Hubblesite Figure 4: The spectral data for a Type 1a SNe at various days before and aQer peak. The early evoluGon is characterized by both a rapid brightening and a slight shiQ of the peak flux to shorter wavelengths, with subsequent evoluGon demonstraGng a gradual dimming and shiQ of the peak flux to longer wavelengths. Figure 5: The peak spectra for the 5 different types of SNe used in this experiment: Ia, Ib, Ic, II-L, and II-P, with the WFIRST filters at corresponding wavelengths. Figure 6: Color-Color Diagram comparing the bluest filters, Z-Y vs. Y-J at z=1. The Gme evoluGon of the SNe is illustrated by a connected plot of the colors for each date present in the spectral template. The locus of Ia points are well-separated from all but the II-P points, and differ from the lauer in behavior: the Ia points are nearly staGonary pre-peak, while IIP points move significantly. Figure 7: Color-Color Diagram for Y-J vs. J-H at z=1. The Ia points are well-separated from all but the II-P points at early Gmes, and the lauer can be disGnguished due to differences in evoluGon: Ia points shiQ to more negaGve values of J-H and Y-J as Gme increases, while II-P points move in the opposite direcGon. Figure 8: Color-Color Diagram comparing the reddest filters, J-H vs. H-F at z=1. This filter combinaGon appears somewhat less promising than the others, as the locus of II-L points also overlaps with the Ia points. The only conGnuous trend between all three graphs (figures 7-9) is the reverse moGon of the Type Ia line before peak, which will be further explained in the discussion secGon. Figure 1: A 3D model of the interior of the Wide-Field Instrument (WFI) on WFIRST. This instrument contains the focal plane assembly and the element wheel, which holds the filters used in this experiment. This instrument will be used to survey thousands of Ia SNe. Source: Jonathan Ruffa Comple$ng the Research I will be conGnuing my work on this research project at Goddard Space Flight Center through the spring of 2016. There, I will conGnue coding, but this Gme taking into account any of the many types of error that will be in the real data sets captured by WFIRST. There will be problems with dust exGncGon, both in the solar system and the intergalacGc medium. This dust exGncGon will cause a overall reddening of the color magnitudes, and must be taken into account when analyzing the changes in color magnitudes. Overall in this project, other than the obvious of learning of how to code in Python and more about type Ia SNe, I primarily learned how to conduct myself in a professional scienGfic environment, an experience I would not of had at the University of Maryland.

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Page 1: Mul$band Photometry in the Early Detec$on of Type Ia SNe ...peel/SDU_Sophomores/2016Posters/... · template. The locus of Ia points are well-separated from all but the II-P points,

Mul$bandPhotometryintheEarlyDetec$onofTypeIaSNeforWFIRST

MollyGrabillAstronomyandPhysics

[email protected],DiscoveryandtheUniverse

AbstractandResearchQues$on

TheWideFieldInfraredSurveyTelescope(WFIRST)isanastrophysicsmissionpresentlyconducGngpre-phaseAstudies.OneoftheprimaryscienGficmissiongoalsforWFIRSTistostudytheeffectofdarkenergyontheevoluGonoftheuniverse.TheWFIRST’sTypeIaSupernovae(SNe)SurveywillanswerthatquesGonbyusingtheWide-FieldInstrumenttomeasurethedistanceandredshiQoftheSNetoobservehowtheexpansionoftheuniverseisacceleraGng.OnlyIaSNeareusefulforthispurpose.Poznanskietal.(2002)developedanewclassificaGonmethod,findingthatSNeofdifferenttypesoccupieddifferentlocaGonsincolor-colordiagrams.TheirstudyuGlizedtheJohnson-CousinsUBVRIfilters(e.g.aplotofB-Vcolorsvs.R-Icolors)toobservehowthecolorsignatureofaSNvariesdependingontype.Inthisproject,thespectraltemplatesfromdifferenttypesofSNewereusedtogeneratecolor-colordiagramsusingthenear-IRfiltersthatwillbeintheWFIRSTobservatory,tofindtheuniquesignaturesofeachtypeofSNe.WereportresultsfromastudyoffiltercombinaGons,andhowtheseallowforthedevelopmentofcriteriathatdiscriminateagainstthemajorityofnon-IaSNeearlyintheirevoluGon.ThistechniqueenablesearlyselecGonofafairlypureSN-Iasamplesothatfollow-upobservaGonsofIaspectracanbeobtainedefficiently.ByusingthefiltercomparisonsJ-Hvs.H-F,Y-Jvs.J-H,andZ-Yvs.Y-Jinthecolor-colorplots,itwasdiscoveredthatTypeIaSNefollowauniquepathwheretheywouldbrighteninthebluer,near-infraredwavelengthsbeforepeak.ThiscanbeseenbytheleQwardmovementfromDay-19toDay0onthegraphs.ThistypeofmovementischaracterisGcfortheIaSNe,andisnotexhibitedinthepre-peakevoluGonoftheothertypesofSNe.ThisuniquesignaturewillallowforearlyidenGficaGonofTypeIaSNefortheWFIRST.

Background:IaSNeAmongallthedifferenttypesofsupernovaestudiedinthisexperiment,TypeIaarethemostunique.Theycontainnohydrogen,butasinglyionizedsiliconlinenearpeaklight.TheyalsoaretheonlytypeofSNethatcomefromthermalrunaway,aprocessthatoccurswhenawhitedwarfandanotherstararelockedinabinaryorbitcloseenoughthatmassbeginstoaccretefromonestarontothewhitedwarf.OncethewhitedwarfreachesitscriGcalmassattheChandrasekharlimit,itexplodes,formingtheTypeIaSNe.ThistypeofformaGoncausestheiruniquepropertyas“standardcandles”:theyconsistentlyexplodeatasimilarabsolutemagnitude(-19.3<M<-18.3).ThisvariaGoninintrinsicbrightnessiscorrelatedwiththeshapeofthelightcurve,someasurementsoftheevoluGonofeachSNcanbeusedtomeasureitsdistancewithanuncertaintyofonlyafewpercent.ThedistancemeasurementswillbeusedtofulfilloneoftheWFIRSTsciencegoals:understandingthenatureofdarkenergy.

MethodologyTocompletethetasksrequiredoftheexperiment,IdevelopedmulGplepiecesofsoQwareinPythonthatfollowedthesubsequentsteps:•  ReadinaSNtemplate•  NormalizethetemplatespectratoagivenB

magnitude(B=–19.3wasusedinthisexperiment)

•  ApplyredshiQtonormalizedspectrainput(z=1wasused)

•  ComputemagnitudesthroughlistofdesiredWFIRSTfiltersataspecificGme

•  CreateanarrayoffiltercomparisonvaluesbaseduponidenGfiedfilters

•  Plotfinalcolor-colordiagram

DiscussionofGraphsThegoalofthisprojectwastouGlizecolor-colorfiltergraphstodevelopamethodofeasilyandquicklyidenGfyingIaSNe,basedupontheiruniquesignature.Threegraphswerecreatedthatcoverthespectrumofnearandshort-wavelengthinfraredfilters,andoverallofthegraphs,theIaSNeexhibitedtwosignificantcharacterisGcs.First,earlypointsintheevoluGon(Day–19->0)wereallinthe‘bluest’regionoftheplots.ThisdisGnguishedIafromallbutII-PSNe(andII-LintheJ-Hvs.H-Fplot).WhatmadetheTypeIauniquewasthedirecGonthatitmoved.TheII-P&II-LSNmovedalongthe+Xaxis,whetheritwasY-J,J-H,orH-F,indicaGngthatitwasgraduallygeongredderoverGme.TheTypeIamovedintheoppositedirecGonunGlafewdaysaQerthepeakemission,aQerwhichtheirevoluGonwouldfollowthesametrendofreddeningastheothertypesofSNe.TheimplicaGonsofthisarepowerfulandcouldbeuGlizedbyWFIRSTaQerlaunch.ItappearsthattheposiGonandmoGonincolor-colorspacecanbeusedtodeterminethespectraltypeofSNeearlyintheirevoluGon.ThiswouldenableWFIRSTtoselectafairlypureSN-Iasampleusingonlyimagingdata,sothatfollow-upobservaGonsofIaspectracouldbeconductedwithease.OnlytypeIaSNecanbeusedforcosmologyanddarkenergyexperiments,soitiscrucialthatWFIRSTisabletodifferenGatehighly-redshiQedSNesothepropermeasurementsaretaken.

References/Acknowledgements

Kessler,R.,etal.2009,PASP121,1028Poznanski,D.,etal.2002,PASP114,833IwouldliketothankDr.JeffreyKrukforhisguidanceandpaGencewithmyconstantastronomyquesGons.IwouldalsoliketothankWFIRSTprojectmanagersKevinGradyandCathyPeddiefortheirsupportandenthusiasmthroughoutmyinternship.IwouldfinallyliketothankDr.AlanPeelforhismentorshipthroughthisprocess.

ConclusionThisprojectexaminedtheuseofcolor-colordiagramstodeterminethetypeofasupernovaatearlyGmes,andfoundthatitappearspromisingfordisGnguishingIaSNeofinterestforcosmologyfromtheother,morenumerous,typesofSNe.ThistechniquerequiresonlyimagingdataforSNdetecGonandtyping,whichsimplifiesWFIRSTdesignandoperaGons.FuturestudieswilladdresstheimpactofuncertainGesinquanGGessuchas:dustexGncGon(inboththehostgalaxyandintheMilkyWay),fluxmeasurements,andintheSNredshiQ.ThesestudieswillhelpdeterminethedetailsofthenecessaryobservaGonstobemadebyWFIRST,andwhatancillarydatamayberequired.

Figure3:SN1994DseeninthelowerleQcornerofgalaxyNGC4526.Anexampleofthehigh

luminosityofaTypeIaSNatpeak.

Source:Hubblesite

Figure2:TheTarantulaNebula:asupernova

remnantwithstar-formingregions

Source:Hubblesite

Figure4:ThespectraldataforaType1aSNeatvariousdaysbeforeandaQerpeak.TheearlyevoluGonischaracterizedbybotharapidbrighteningandaslightshiQofthepeakfluxto

shorterwavelengths,withsubsequentevoluGondemonstraGngagradualdimmingandshiQofthepeakfluxtolongerwavelengths.

Figure5:Thepeakspectraforthe5differenttypesofSNeusedinthisexperiment:Ia,Ib,Ic,II-L,andII-P,withtheWFIRSTfilters

atcorrespondingwavelengths.

Figure6:Color-ColorDiagramcomparingthebluestfilters,Z-Yvs.Y-Jatz=1.TheGmeevoluGonoftheSNeisillustratedbya

connectedplotofthecolorsforeachdatepresentinthespectraltemplate.ThelocusofIapointsarewell-separatedfromallbuttheII-Ppoints,anddifferfromthelauerinbehavior:theIapointsarenearlystaGonarypre-peak,whileIIPpointsmove

significantly.

Figure7:Color-ColorDiagramforY-Jvs.J-Hatz=1.TheIapointsarewell-separatedfromallbuttheII-PpointsatearlyGmes,andthelauercanbedisGnguishedduetodifferencesinevoluGon:Ia

pointsshiQtomorenegaGvevaluesofJ-HandY-JasGmeincreases,whileII-PpointsmoveintheoppositedirecGon.

Figure8:Color-ColorDiagramcomparingthereddestfilters,J-Hvs.H-Fatz=1.ThisfiltercombinaGonappearssomewhatlesspromisingthantheothers,asthelocusofII-Lpointsalso

overlapswiththeIapoints.TheonlyconGnuoustrendbetweenallthreegraphs(figures7-9)isthereversemoGonoftheTypeIa

linebeforepeak,whichwillbefurtherexplainedinthediscussionsecGon.Figure1:A3Dmodelofthe

interioroftheWide-FieldInstrument(WFI)onWFIRST.Thisinstrumentcontainsthefocalplaneassemblyandtheelementwheel,whichholdsthefiltersusedinthisexperiment.ThisinstrumentwillbeusedtosurveythousandsofIaSNe.Source:JonathanRuffa

Comple$ngtheResearchIwillbeconGnuingmyworkonthisresearchprojectatGoddardSpaceFlightCenterthroughthespringof2016.There,IwillconGnuecoding,butthisGmetakingintoaccountanyofthemanytypesoferrorthatwillbeintherealdatasetscapturedbyWFIRST.TherewillbeproblemswithdustexGncGon,bothinthesolarsystemandtheintergalacGcmedium.ThisdustexGncGonwillcauseaoverallreddeningofthecolormagnitudes,andmustbetakenintoaccountwhenanalyzingthechangesincolormagnitudes.Overallinthisproject,otherthantheobviousoflearningofhowtocodeinPythonandmoreabouttypeIaSNe,IprimarilylearnedhowtoconductmyselfinaprofessionalscienGficenvironment,anexperienceIwouldnotofhadattheUniversityofMaryland.