Spectrophotometric time series of SN 2011fe from the Nearby Supernova Factory^⋆,⋆⋆

¹ Université de Lyon 1, France, CNRS/IN2P3, Institut de Physique Nucléaire de Lyon, 69622 Villeurbanne Cedex, France
e-mail: rui.pereira@in2p3.fr
² Computational Cosmology Center, Computational Research Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road MS 50B-4206, Berkeley, CA, 94611, USA
³ Physics Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
⁴ Laboratoire de Physique Nucléaire et des Hautes Énergies, Université Pierre et Marie Curie Paris 6, Université Paris Diderot Paris 7, CNRS-IN2P3, 4 place Jussieu, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France
⁵ Department of Physics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520-8121, USA
⁶ Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik, Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 1, 85741 Garching bei München, Germany
⁷ Physikalisches Institut, Universität Bonn, Nußallee 12, 53115 Bonn, Germany
⁸ Tsinghua Center for Astrophysics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, PR China
⁹ Department of Physics, University of California Berkeley, 366 LeConte Hall MC 7300, Berkeley, CA, 94720-7300, USA
¹⁰ National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100012, PR China
¹¹ Centre de Physique des Particules de Marseille, Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS/IN2P3, 163, avenue de Luminy, Case 902, 13288 Marseille Cedex 09, France
¹² Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California Berkeley, 7 Gauss Way, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
¹³ Centre de Recherche Astronomique de Lyon, Université Lyon 1, 9 avenue Charles André, 69561 Saint Genis Laval Cedex, France

Received: 26 December 2012
Accepted: 21 January 2013

Abstract

We present 32 epochs of optical (3300−9700 Å) spectrophotometric observations of the nearby quintessential “normal” type Ia supernova (SN Ia) SN 2011fe in the galaxy M101, extending from −15 to +97 d with respect to B-band maximum, obtained by the Nearby Supernova Factory collaboration. SN 2011fe is the closest (μ = 29.04) and brightest (B_max = 9.94 mag) SN Ia observed since the advent of modern large scale programs for the intensive periodic followup of supernovae. Both synthetic light curve measurements and spectral feature analysis attest to the normality of SN 2011fe. There is very little evidence for reddening in its host galaxy. The homogeneous calibration, intensive time sampling, and high signal-to-noise ratio of the data set make it unique. Thus it is ideal for studying the physics of SN Ia explosions in detail, and for furthering the use of SNe Ia as standardizable candles for cosmology. Several such applications are shown, from the creation of a bolometric light curve and measurement of the ⁵⁶Ni mass, to the simulation ofdetection thresholds for unburned carbon, direct comparisons with other SNe Ia, and existing spectral templates.