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D. E. Vanden Berk, B.C. Wilhite, R.G. Kron, J. T. Annis, J. F. Beacom, B. C. Lee, S. M. Kent (Fermilab), M. Schaffer (Northwestern), M. W. Richmond (RIT), SDSS Collaboration
We present the discovery of 13 supernovae and 9 other transient or highly variable objects found during the normal operations of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Ten of the supernovae are spatially resolved from relatively low-redshift host galaxies, while three are associated with small, very low-luminosity galaxies. Some of the unidentified sources may also be supernovae associated with extremely low-luminosity hosts, while others are likely to be highly variable stars. We show that the SNe were targeted for spectroscopic follow-up in the SDSS survey because their colors in the SDSS photometric system are well separated from the locus of normal stars, making them appear mainly as quasar candidates. All of the SN colors are consistent with the predicted time evolution color tracks of the most commonly identified types of supernovae, which suggests a novel ``snapshot'' SN candidate selection technique. We expect to find of order 100 SNe by the conclusion of the normal SDSS operations. We describe some of the scientific uses of such a dataset, and suggest modifications to the search technique for a dedicated program to detect transient objects.
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) is a joint project of The University of Chicago, Fermilab, the Institute for Advanced Study, the Japan Participation Group, The Johns Hopkins University, the Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy (MPIA), the Max-Planck-Institute for Astrophysics (MPA), New Mexico State University, Princeton University, the United States Naval Observatory, and the University of Washington. Apache Point Observatory, site of the SDSS telescopes, is operated by the Astrophysical Research Consortium (ARC).
Funding for the project has been provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the SDSS member institutions, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, the Japanese Monbukagakusho, and the Max Planck Society. The SDSS Web site is http://www.sdss.org/.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: danvb@fnal.gov