Abstract
We put constraints on the properties of the progenitors of peculiar
calcium-rich transients using the distribution of locations within their
host galaxies. We confirm that this class of transients do not follow
the galaxy stellar mass profile and are more likely to be found in
remote locations of their apparent hosts. We test the hypothesis that
these transients are from low-metallicity progenitors by comparing their
spatial distributions with the predictions of self-consistent
cosmological simulations that include star formation and chemical
enrichment. We find that while metal-poor stars and our transient sample
show a consistent preference for large offsets, metallicity alone cannot
explain the extreme cases. Invoking a lower age limit on the progenitor
helps to improve the match, indicating these events may result from a
very old metal-poor population. We also investigate the radial
distribution of globular cluster systems, and show that they too are
consistent with the class of calcium-rich transients. Because
photometric upper limits exist for globular clusters for some members of
the class, a production mechanism related to the dense environment of
globular clusters is not favoured for the calcium-rich events. However,
the methods developed in this paper may be used in the future to
constrain the effects of low metallicity on radially distant
core-collapse events or help establish a correlation with globular
clusters for other classes of peculiar explosions.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1680-1686 |
Journal | Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society |
Volume | 432 |
Publication status | Published - 01 Jun 2013 |
Keywords
- methods: statistical
- supernovae: general
- galaxies: abundances