Type Ibc supernovae in disturbed galaxies: evidence for a top-heavy IMF
Abstract
We compare the radial locations of 178 core-collapse supernovae to the R-band and H alpha light distributions of their host galaxies. When the galaxies are split into `disturbed' and `undisturbed' categories, a striking difference emerges. The disturbed galaxies have a central excess of core-collapse supernovae, and this excess is almost completely dominated by supernovae of types Ib, Ic and Ib/c, whereas type II supernovae dominate in all other environments. The difference cannot easily be explained by metallicity or extinction effects, and thus we propose that this is direct evidence for a stellar initial mass function that is strongly weighted towards high mass stars, specifically in the central regions of disturbed galaxies.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1005.0511,
title = {Type Ibc supernovae in disturbed galaxies: evidence for a top-heavy IMF},
author = {S. M. Habergham and J. P. Anderson and P. A. James},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1005.0511},
year = {2010}
}
Comments
22 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ