Testing the effect of progenitor's metallicity on $^{56}$Ni mass and constraining the progenitor scenarios in Type Ia supernovae

Abstract

The analytical model found that the intrinsic variation in the initial metallicity of the Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) progenitor stars ($Z_{progenitor}$) translates into a 25% variation in the $^{56}$Ni mass synthesized and, therefore, 0.2 mag difference in the observed peak luminosity of SNe Ia. Previous observational studies used the currently-observed global gas-phase metallicity of host galaxies, instead of $Z_{progenitor}$ used in the model, and showed a higher scatter in the $^{56}$Ni mass measurements compared to the model prediction. Here, we use $Z_{progenitor}$ of 34 normal SNe Ia and employ recent SN Ia explosion models with various configurations to cover the observed $^{56}$Ni mass range. Unlike previous studies, our sample covers the $Z_{progenitor}$ range, where most of the $Z_{progenitor}$ effect occurs. Linear regression returns a slope of 0.02+-0.03, which is the opposite trend to the analytical model, but at at low statistical significance level. We find that comparing our sample with SN Ia explosion models on the $Z_{progenitor}$--$^{56}$Ni mass diagram allows us to constrain the progenitor scenarios. We also explore other chemical composition indicators. For $(Fe/H)_{progenitor}$, our sample follows the trend predicted by the analytical models, but at a low significance level. Noticeably, $(\alpha/Fe)_{progenitor}$ shows the opposite trend and a clear gap. When we split the sample at $(\alpha/Fe)_{progenitor}$ = 0.35 $(\alpha/Fe)_{\odot}$, we find a 3$\sigma$ difference in the weighted-means of the $^{56}$Ni mass. Lastly, SNe Ia in different $Z_{progenitor}$ groups show a difference of 0.14+-0.09 mag in the standardized luminosity. The present work highlights a holistic approach (from the progenitor star to the explosion with SN Ia and host galaxy observational data) to understand the underlying physics of SNe Ia for more accurate and precise cosmology.