A Measurement of the Rate of Type Ia Supernovae at Redshift z 0.1 from the First Season of the SDSS-II Supernova Survey

• Published in: The Astrophysical journal Vol. 682; no. 1; pp. 262 - 282
• Main Authors: Dilday, Benjamin, Kessler, Richard, Frieman, Joshua A, Holtzman, Jon, Marriner, John, Miknaitis, Gajus, Nichol, Robert C, Romani, Roger, Sako, Masao, Bassett, Bruce, Becker, Andrew, Cinabro, David, DeJongh, Fritz, Depoy, Darren L, Doi, Mamoru, Garnavich, Peter M, Hogan, Craig J, Jha, Saurabh, Konishi, Kohki, Lampeitl, Hubert, Marshall, Jennifer L, McGinnis, David, Prieto, Jose Luis, Riess, Adam G, Richmond, Michael W, Schneider, Donald P, Smith, Mathew, Takanashi, Naohiro, Tokita, Kouichi, van der Heyden, Kurt, Yasuda, Naoki, Zheng, Chen, Barentine, John, Brewington, Howard, Choi, Changsu, Crotts, Arlin, Dembicky, Jack, Harvanek, Michael, Im, Myunshin, Ketzeback, William, Kleinman, Scott J, Krzesiński, Jurek, Long, Daniel C, Malanushenko, Elena, Malanushenko, Viktor, McMillan, Russet J, Nitta, Atsuko, Pan, Kaike, Saurage, Gabrelle, Snedden, Stephanie A, Watters, Shannon, Wheeler, J. Craig, York, Donald
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chicago, IL IOP Publishing 20.07.2008; University of Chicago Press
• Subjects: Astronomy; Earth, ocean, space; Exact sciences and technology; Type I supernova; Red shift; supemovae: general
• ISSN: 0004-637X; 1538-4357
• DOI: 10.1086/587733

We present a measurement of the rate of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) from the first of three seasons of data from the SDSS-II Supernova Survey. For this measurement, we include 17 SNe Ia at redshift [image]. Assuming a flat cosmology with [image], we find a volumetric SN Ia rate of [image], at a volume-weighted mean redshift of 0.09. This result is consistent with previous measurements of the SN Ia rate in a similar redshift range. The systematic errors are well controlled, resulting in the most precise measurement of the SN Ia rate in this redshift range. We use a maximum likelihood method to fit SN rate models to the SDSS-II Supernova Survey data in combination with other rate measurements, thereby constraining models for the redshift evolution of the SN Ia rate. Fitting the combined data to a simple power-law evolution of the volumetric SN Ia rate, [image], we obtain a value of [image], i.e., the SN Ia rate is determined to be an increasing function of redshift at the [image]2.5 capital sigma level. Fitting the results to a model in which the volumetric SN rate is [image], where [image] is the stellar mass density and [image] is the star formation rate, we find [image].