Paired galaxies with different activity levels and their supernovae

TL;DR

This study examines how the activity levels of paired galaxies influence supernova characteristics, revealing that supernova types are linked to galaxy pair dynamics and star formation rates, with no significant impact from host galaxy morphology.

Contribution

It is the first to show that supernova types correlate with galaxy pair velocity differences and star formation activity, expanding understanding of galaxy interactions and supernova distribution.

Findings

Type II SNe are farther from host nuclei than Type Ibc.

Supernova Ibc are in galaxy pairs with smaller velocity differences.

SN types show no correlation with host-neighbor luminosity ratio.

Abstract

We investigate the influence of close neighbor galaxies on the properties of supernovae (SNe) and their host galaxies using 56 SNe located in pairs of galaxies with different levels of star formation (SF) and nuclear activity. The statistical study of SN hosts shows that there is no significant difference between morphologies of hosts in our sample and the larger general sample of SN hosts in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 8 (DR8). The mean distance of type II SNe from nuclei of hosts is greater by about a factor of 2 than that of type Ibc SNe. The distributions and mean distances of SNe are consistent with previous results compiled with the larger sample. For the first time it is shown that SNe Ibc are located in pairs with significantly smaller difference of radial velocities between components than pairs containing SNe Ia and II. We consider this as a result of higher star formation rate (SFR) of these closer systems of galaxies. SN types are not correlated with the luminosity ratio of host and neighbor galaxies in pairs. The orientation of SNe with respect to the preferred direction toward neighbor galaxy is found to be isotropic and independent of kinematical properties of the galaxy pair.