Early-type host galaxies of Type II and Ib Supernovae

Hyewon Suh, Sung-chul Yoon, Hyunjin Jeong, Sukyoung K. Yi

Published 2011-02-17Version 1

Recent studies find that some early-type galaxies host Type II or Ibc supernovae (SNe II, Ibc). This may imply recent star-formation activities in these SNe host galaxies, but a massive star origin of the SNe Ib so far observed in early-type galaxies has been questioned because of their intrinsic faintness and unusually strong Ca lines shown in the nebular phase. To address the issue, we investigate the properties of early-type SNe host galaxies using the data with Galaxy Evolution Explore(GALEX) ultraviolet photometry, and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) optical data. Our sample includes eight SNe II and one peculiar SN Ib (SN 2000ds) host galaxies as well as 32 SN Ia host galaxies. The host galaxy of SN 2005cz, another peculiar SN Ib, is also analysed using the GALEX data and the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) optical data. We find that the NUV-optical colors of SN II/Ib host galaxies are systematically bluer than those of SN Ia host galaxies, and some SN II/Ib host galaxies with NUV-r colors markedly bluer than the others exhibit strong radio emission. We perform a stellar population synthesis analysis and find a clear signature of recent star-formation activities in most of the SN II/Ib host galaxies. Our results generally support the association of the SNe II/Ib hosted in early-type galaxies with core-collapse of massive stars. We briefly discuss implications for the progenitors of the peculiar SNe Ib 2000ds and 2005cz.