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P.A. Milne (LANL), G.G. Williams (Steward Observatory), Jessica Crist, L.-S. The, M.D. Leising (Clemson University)
Energy deposition in the ejecta of type Ia supernovae after 50 days is dominated by the interactions of gamma-rays and positrons produced in the decay of 56Co arrow 56Fe. We group SNe Ia into four groups according to their peak width and demonstrate that within these groupings the late behavior of the light curves of individual events are similar. We then fit model-generated energy deposition rates to these light curves and show that for three of the four groupings, the available data are consistent with positron escape. We conclude by discussing the ramifications of this suggested positron escape upon the number and distribution of positron in the Galaxy.