Physics
Scientific paper
Jun 1991
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1991phr...204..385v&link_type=abstract
Physics Reports, Volume 204, Issue 6, p. 385-400.
Physics
24
Scientific paper
Evidence on supernova rates in the Galaxy and in external galaxies is reviewed. A major discrepancy exists between Galactic supernova rates derived from historical observations and those predicted from the stellar luminosity function in the solar neighborhood. With the supernova rate that is derived from the number of supernovae that have occurred within 3 kpc during the last millenium the local gas supply would be exhausted in only 0.3-0.6 Gyr. This suggests that the lower supernova frequency of 0.3-0.7 core-collapse supernovae per milleannium within 3 kpc of the Sun (corresponding to a total Galactic supernova rate of ~2 per century), which is derived from the Scalo mass spectrum is probably more reliable than the higher rate that is derived from historical supernova observations. The supernova frequency in the LMC is estimated to be ~0.2 per century. Estimates are also given for supernova rates in M31 and M33.
The long-standing controversy regarding supernova rates in Sc galaxies is resolved in favor of the high rates advocated by Tammann. The fact that the supernova rate is much higher in pole-on (i<30°) Sc galaxies than in more inclined spirals of this type is interpreted in terms of a model in which a large fraction of the supernovae in late-type galaxies occur in rich clusters or associations located at the bottoms of narrow ``chimneys'' that have been formed by gas fountains ejected by previous generations of massive supernovae. The fact that no significant inclination effect is detected in early-type spirals suggests that star formation in such objects is not suffiently intense and/or clumpy to form many such gas fountains.
The supernova rate in galaxies is found to increase with increasing star formation rate. An apparent decrease in the supernova discovery rate in the most active galaxies might be due to the fact that supernovae in starburst galaxies are deeply buried in huge dust clouds.
The SNIa rate (per unit infrared luminosity) is found to be an order of magnitude higher in spirals of type Sc than it is in E and SO galaxies. This observation may be accounted for in terms of the relatively young mean age of close binary systems containing white dwarfs in Sc galaxies.
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