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The Type Ia Supernova Rate in Radio and Infrared Galaxies from the CFHT Supernova Legacy Survey

We have combined the large SN Ia database of the Canada-France-Hawaii
Telescope Supernova Legacy Survey and catalogs of galaxies with
photometric redshifts, VLA 1.4 GHz radio sources, and Spitzer infrared
sources. We present eight SNe Ia in early-type host galaxies which have
counterparts in the radio and infrared source catalogs. We find the SN
Ia rate in subsets of radio and infrared early-type galaxies is ~1-5
times the rate in all early-type galaxies, and that any enhancement is
always <~ 2 sigma. Rates in these subsets are consistent with
predictions of the two component "A+B" SN Ia rate model. Since infrared
properties of radio SN Ia hosts indicate dust obscured star formation,
we incorporate infrared star formation rates into the "A+B" model. We
also show the properties of SNe Ia in radio and infrared galaxies
suggest the hosts contain dust and support a continuum of delay time
distributions for SNe Ia, although other delay time distributions cannot
be ruled out based on our data.

Paper Reference: 

Graham et al. 2010, AJ, accepted

Paper Authors: 

Graham, M. L.; Pritchet, C. J.; Sullivan, M.; Howell, D. A.; Gwyn, S. D. J.; Astier, P.; Balland, C.; Basa, S.; Carlberg, R. G.; Conley, A.; Fouchez, D.; Guy, J.; Hardin, D.; Hook, I. M.; Pain, R.; Perrett, K.; Regnault, N.; Rich, J.; Balam, D.; Fabbro, S.; Hsiao, E. Y.; Mourao, A.; Palanque-Delabrouille, N.; Perlmutter, S.; Ruhlman-Kleider, V.; Suzuki, N.; Fakhouri, H. K.; Walker, E. S.