supernovae: general

GROWTH on S190510g: DECam Observation Planning and Follow-up of a Distant Binary Neutron Star Merger Candidate

The first two months of the third Advanced LIGO and Virgo observing run (2019 April-May) showed that distant gravitational-wave (GW) events can now be readily detected. Three candidate mergers containing neutron stars (NS) were reported in a span of …

The volumetric rate of normal type Ia supernovae in the local Universe discovered by the Palomar Transient Factory

We present the volumetric rate of normal type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) discovered by the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF). Using strict data-quality cuts, and considering only periods when the PTF maintained a regular cadence, PTF discovered 90 SNe Ia …

The fast, luminous ultraviolet transient AT2018cow: extreme supernova, or disruption of a star by an intermediate-mass black hole?

Wide-field optical surveys have begun to uncover large samples of fast (t$_rise$ łesssim 5 d), luminous (M$_peak$ < -18), blue transients. While commonly attributed to the breakout of a supernova shock into a dense wind, the great distances to the …

Spectra of Hydrogen-poor Superluminous Supernovae from the Palomar Transient Factory

Most Type I superluminous supernovae (SLSNe-I) reported to date have been identified by their high peak luminosities and spectra lacking obvious signs of hydrogen. We demonstrate that these events can be distinguished from normal-luminosity SNe …

Late Time Multi-wavelength Observations of Swift J1644+5734: A Luminous Optical/IR Bump and Quiescent X-Ray Emission

We present late time multi-wavelength observations of Swift J1644+57, suggested to be a relativistic tidal disruption flare (TDF). Our observations extend to >4 years from discovery and show that 1.4 years after outburst the relativistic jet …

The Detection Rate of Early UV Emission from Supernovae: A Dedicated Galex/PTF Survey and Calibrated Theoretical Estimates

The radius and surface composition of an exploding massive star, as well as the explosion energy per unit mass, can be measured using early UV observations of core-collapse supernovae (SNe). We present the first results from a simultaneous GALEX/PTF …

CfAIR2: Near-infrared Light Curves of 94 Type Ia Supernovae

CfAIR2 is a large, homogeneously reduced set of near-infrared (NIR) light curves (LCs) for Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) obtained with the 1.3 m Peters Automated InfraRed Imaging TELescope. This data set includes 4637 measurements of 94 SNe Ia and 4 …

Strong near-infrared carbon in the Type Ia supernova iPTF13ebh

We present near-infrared (NIR) time-series spectroscopy, as well as complementary ultraviolet (UV), optical, and NIR data, of the Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) iPTF13ebh, which was discovered within two days from the estimated time of explosion. The …

iPTF14yb: The First Discovery of a Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglow Independent of a High-energy Trigger

We report here the discovery by the Intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (iPTF) of iPTF14yb, a luminous (M$_r$≈ -27.8 mag), cosmological (redshift 1.9733), rapidly fading optical transient. We demonstrate, based on probabilistic arguments and a …