The environmental dependence of mid-IR luminous dusty Supernovae

TL;DR

This study analyzes the environments of mid-IR luminous dusty supernovae using Spitzer and WISE data, revealing their preference for specific host conditions and insights into dust formation processes.

Contribution

It provides the first systematic analysis of dusty supernova environments and their dust properties, highlighting environmental factors influencing dust production.

Findings

Dusty supernovae prefer high EW(Hα), low metallicity, and high extinction regions.

A negative correlation exists between SN dust mass and star formation rate.

Dust formation in SNe appears insensitive to host metallicity and extinction.

Abstract

Using the Spitzer and WISE images, we discovered 42 mid-IR luminous dusty supernovae with local integral-field spectroscopy data. The observed mid-IR emission indicates the presence of newly formed dust, or pre-existing dust heated by the radiation from the supernovae or circumstellar medium interactions. We carried out a systematic analysis of the supernova host environments and their dust properties, for understanding the dust-veiled exploding stars, and whether such an intense dust production process is associated with their local environments. We find that dusty supernovae prefer the locations with higher EW(H{\alpha}), lower metallicity, and heavier host extinctions compared to typical SN types, and they show the same increasing sequence in the values of EW(H{\alpha}) and oxygen abundance from hydrogen-rich, type IIn and hydrogen-poor dusty supernovae. These differences in environmental properties of different dusty SN types indicate the diversity of their progenitors. We also found that one marginal correlation is a negative correlation between the SN dust mass and star formation rate. This means that SNe would be more mid-IR luminous and more dust-rich at the region with lower star formation rate. However, the SN dust mass show no correlation with the metallicity and the host extinction, which were thought to be key factors affecting the mass-loss history of progenitors and the CSM environment of SNe. Therefore, the dust formation process in SNe might be insensitive to metallicity and the dust condition of their host environments.