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Supernovae and their host galaxies - V. The vertical distribution of supernovae in disc galaxies

A. A. Hakobyan, L. V. Barkhudaryan, A. G. Karapetyan, G. A. Mamon, D. Kunth, V. Zh. Adibekyan, L. S. Aramyan, A. R. Petrosian, M. Turatto

Abstract
We present an analysis of the height distributions of the different types of supernovae (SNe) from the plane of their host galaxies. We use a well-defined sample of 102 nearby SNe appearing inside high-inclined (i≥85°), morphologically non-disturbed S0–Sd host galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. For the first time, we show that in all the subsamples of spirals, the vertical distribution of core-collapse (CC) SNe is about twice closer to the plane of the host disc than the distribution of SNe Ia. In Sb–Sc hosts, the exponential scale height of CC SNe is consistent with those of the younger stellar population in the Milky Way (MW) thin disc, while the scale height of SNe Ia is consistent with those of the old population in the MW thick disc. We show that the ratio of scale lengths to scale heights of the distribution of CC SNe is consistent with those of the resolved young stars with ages from ∼10 up to ∼100 Myr in nearby edge-on galaxies and the unresolved stellar population of extragalactic thin discs. The corresponding ratio for SNe Ia is consistent with the same ratios of the two populations of resolved stars with ages from a few 100 Myr up to a few Gyr and from a few Gyr up to ∼10 Gyr, as well as with the unresolved population of the thick disc. These results can be explained considering the age–scale height relation of the distribution of stellar population and the mean age difference between Type Ia and CC SNe progenitors.

Keywords
supernovae: general, Galaxy: disc, galaxies: spiral, galaxies: stellar content, galaxies: structure

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume 471, Issue 2, Page 11
2017 October

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Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa Universidade do Porto Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade de Coimbra
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia COMPETE 2020 PORTUGAL 2020 União Europeia