Examining the Properties of Low-Luminosity Hosts of Type Ia Supernovae from ASAS-SN

TL;DR

This study analyzes low-luminosity host galaxies of Type Ia supernovae using spectroscopy to measure metallicities and star formation rates, revealing high metallicities in the lowest-mass hosts and emphasizing the need for further research.

Contribution

It provides the first spectroscopic analysis of low-luminosity SN Ia host galaxies, highlighting metallicity trends and the importance of studying such hosts for understanding SN Ia progenitors.

Findings

Low-mass SN Ia hosts may have higher metallicities than typical galaxies.

A subset of hosts shows particularly high metallicities.

Star formation activity in the sample is representative of general galaxies.

Abstract

We present a spectroscopic analysis of 44 low-luminosity host galaxies of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) detected by the All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae (ASAS-SN), using the emission lines to measure metallicities and star formation rates. We find that although the star formation activity of our sample is representative of general galaxies, there is some evidence that the lowest-mass SN Ia host galaxies (log($M_\star/M_\odot$)$<8$) in our sample have high metallicities compared to general galaxies of similar masses. We also identify a subset of 5 galaxies with particularly high metallicities. This highlights the need for spectroscopic analysis of more low-luminosity, low-mass SN Ia host galaxies to test the robustness of these conclusions and their potential impact on our understanding of SN Ia progenitors.