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# K-Band Red Clump Distances to the LMC Clusters Hodge 4 and NGC 1651

## 1 Introduction

The intrinsic colors and luminosities of stars are a powerful probe of their properties, such as metal abundance and age. For sources not embedded in significant amounts of dust, the traditional choice has been the use of optical colors (e.g. $`BV`$, $`VI`$) and magnitudes for this purpose. Because of this, there exists a substantial body of foundational work that attempts to link stellar photometry in the optical regime to fundamental stellar parameters. It is for this reason that in many applications, observations in the optical are the preferred method by which to glean information about stars in unobscured regions.

There is at least one notable exception to this assertion, however. The use of red clump (RC) stars as distance indicators, which has utilized observations in the V-band (Sarajedini, Lee, & Lee 1995), R-band (Seidel, Da Costa, & Demarque 1987), and I-band (Paczyński & Stanek 1998), has lately moved into the infrared wavelengths (Alves 2000; Grocholski & Sarajedini 2001, hereafter GS01; Alves et al. 2002); this is due to the realization that the K-band absolute magnitude of the red clump \[$`M_K(RC)`$\] is less susceptible to uncertainties in the age and abundance of the stellar population as compared with its optical cousins.

The work of GS01 used $`JK_s`$ photometry for Galactic open clusters from the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) to establish a calibration between cluster age, metallicity, and the K-band absolute magnitude of the red clump. The empirical calibration was closely mirrored by the theoretical predictions based on the models of Girardi et al. (2000). Given the usefulness of such a robust distance calibration, GS01 sought to apply it to a cosmologically significant problem such as the distance of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). However, it quickly became apparent that there is a dearth of near-IR photometry for helium burning red clump stars in LMC clusters. All of the extant near-IR studies of intermediate age clusters in the LMC (i.e. older than $``$1 Gyr) focus on stars with $`K<16`$ (e.g. Aaronson & Mould 1985, and references therein; Ferraro et al. 1995), whereas the red clump is expected to be at $`K17`$.

The present work represents our initial efforts to remedy this situation. We have obtained JK imaging for the LMC clusters Hodge 4 and NGC 1651. Sections 2 and 3 describe the observations and data reduction procedures used to construct the near-IR color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) discussed in Sec. 4. The cluster metallicities, ages, reddenings, and distances are discussed in Section 5. Section 6 presents a comparison between the observations and the theoretical models of the red giant branch. Section 7 contains a summary of our results.

## 2 Observations

J-band (1.22$`\mu `$m) and Ks-band (2.16$`\mu `$m) images of Hodge 4 ($`\alpha _{2000}`$ = $`5^h`$32’26”, $`\delta _{2000}`$ = –$`64^o`$44’11”) and NGC 1651 ($`\alpha _{2000}`$ = $`4^h`$37’32”, $`\delta _{2000}`$ = –$`70^o`$35’06”) were obtained over 3 nights in December 2001 using the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) 4m telescope with the Ohio State InfraRed Imager/Spectrometer (OSIRIS), in conjunction with the tip-tilt image stabilization system. OSIRIS uses a 1024$`\times `$1024 pixel mercury cadmium telluride (HgCdTe) HAWAII focal plane array. All data were obtained with the f/14 secondary and the OSIRIS f/7 camera. This optical configuration yielded a field of view of 93″$`\times `$93″and a plate scale of 0$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$161/pixel. Wavefront reference was provided by one of two optically visible guide stars within 4’ of each of the targeted science fields.

We observed two fields in each cluster at J and Ks: one centered on the target and one offset by 60″to the east or west. The total area covered for each cluster was $``$3.75 square arcminutes. All data were taken using a 9-point dither pattern. For the J-band data, the integration time at each point was 11 seconds with 2 coadds, resulting in a total of 198 seconds on source. For data taken at Ks, the integration time at each point was 10 seconds with 3 coadds, yielding a total of 270 seconds on source. Typical seeing at the telescope was $``$0$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$6.

Figure 1 shows our observed fields in Hodge 4 (1a) and NGC 1651 (1b). Each image is approximately 150” x 90” in size. These clusters are located at substantial distances from the center of the LMC – 4.9o in the case of Hodge 4 and 4.2o for NGC 1651. Figure 1 suggests that both clusters are situated in relatively sparse regions with little background contamination from LMC field stars.

## 3 Reductions

Images were processed with a reduction pipeline composed of a number of IRAF 111IRAF is distributed by the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. scripts, which performed the following tasks. The nine dithered source images were dark subtracted and median combined, so as to eliminate any objects on each frame, leaving only an exposure of the sky. A flat field image was created by normalizing this sky frame. Object frames were then sky subtracted and flat fielded using these images. After processing, spatial offsets were calculated and the images were shifted and average combined, creating a single image for each observed field with signal-to-noise ratio equivalent to a single 198s exposure in J and a single 270s exposure in $`K_s`$.

### 3.1 Standard Stars

The combined standard star images were analyzed with the IRAF/QPHOT software package, which was used to measure instrumental magnitudes using a 15 pixel radius aperture. We combined standard star measurements from all three nights by offsetting all of the measured instrumental magnitudes to the same zeropoint using stars in common between the three nights. The combined dataset of 7 standard star measurements was then fit using a least-squares algorithm to determine the extinction coefficients and zeropoints. This procedure yielded the following equations:

$`jJ=(2.03\pm 0.03)+(0.06\pm 0.02)\times X_J`$ (1)
$`k_sK_s=(2.23\pm 0.03)+(0.09\pm 0.02)\times X_K`$ (2)
as shown in Fig. 2. In this formulation, lower case letters represent exposure-time-corrected instrumental magnitudes and X is the airmass. The root-mean-square deviation of the points from the fitted relations was 0.014 mag in $`J`$ and 0.013 mag in $`K_s`$.

### 3.2 Program Clusters

The combined $`JK_s`$ images of Hodge 4 and NGC 1651 were measured using the aperture photometry routines in DAOPHOT (Stetson 1994). Magnitudes were determined in a 3 pixel-radius aperture for all detected stellar profiles. These were then corrected to total instrumental values via the application of an aperture correction derived from the brightest uncrowded stars in each field. We also measured the brightest stars in each frame using the IRAF/QPHOT task, which was used for the standard star reductions. The DAOPHOT and QPHOT total aperture magnitudes agreed to within 0.01 mag. Furthermore, photometry for stars located in the overlap region between the two fields observed in each cluster differed by less than 0.02 mag as compared with the mean photometric zeropoint.

The next step in the photometric reduction involved combining the instrumental magnitudes for stars in common between the two fields in each cluster; this was done with the DAOMASTER (Stetson 1994) software. The resulting photometry was corrected for exposure time and transformed to the LCO standard system of Persson et al. (1998) using Eqs 1 and 2 above. The final step involved transforming our photometric system to that of Bessell & Brett (1988) via Eqs. 26 and 27 of Carpenter (2001) in conjunction with Eqs. 1 and 2 of GS01. This was done in order to facilitate the use of the red clump distance calibration established by GS01.

## 4 Color-Magnitude Diagrams

Figure 3 shows the ($`K,JK`$) color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) of Hodge 4 and NGC 1651. These contain all stars that were photometered in the two fields. The same basic features are apparent in each CMD. There is a prominent red clump located at K$``$17 with a well-populated red giant branch extending $``$4 magnitudes brightward of the RC. The few stars located just above the RC are likely to be post horizontal branch (i.e. red clump) stars. In the NGC 1651 CMD, there are two conspicuous bright stars that extend above the first ascent red giant branch tip. In Sec. 6, we assert that these are likely to be asymptotic giant branch stars.

## 5 Cluster Properties

### 5.1 Metallicities

The most straightforward technique by which to determine cluster metallicities using CMDs is via the slope of the RGB. The slope becomes shallower as a clusters’ metal abundance increases (Kuchinski et al. 1995; Ferraro et al. 2000). In order to measure this slope, we apply an iterative 2-$`\sigma `$ rejection linear least squares fitting routine to stars brightward and redward of the red clump (Sarajedini & Norris 1994). The resultant fits and the fitted points are shown in the two left panels of Fig. 4. We find RGB slopes of $`0.095\pm 0.003`$ for Hodge 4 and $`0.102\pm 0.007`$ for NGC 1651. The quoted uncerainties are the formal least squares fitting errors.

The work of Tiede, Martini, & Frogel (1997) has established a relation between RGB slope and metal abundance for Galactic open clusters, which are similar in age to the LMC clusters considered herein. We have recalibrated the zeropoint of their relation using the metallicities published by Twarog et al. (1997), which is the abundance scale used by GS01. We find

$`[Fe/H]=(1.519\pm 0.073)+(14.243\pm 1.963)\times RGBSlope,`$ (3)
where the slope is that derived by Tiede et al. and the zeropoint is the one appropriate for the Twarog et al. metal abundance scale. The RGB slopes given above then yield metal abundances of $`[Fe/H]=0.17\pm 0.04`$ for Hodge 4 and $`[Fe/H]=0.07\pm 0.10`$ for NGC 1651. The uncertainties in these quantities represent the error in the slope propagated through the calculation.

These near-IR RGB slope-based abundances are about the same or slightly higher than previous estimates. For example, Olszewski et al. (1991) present Calcium triplet spectroscopy of giant stars in a number of LMC clusters. They find $`[Fe/H]=0.15`$ for Hodge 4 based on observations of one star and a somewhat uncertain value of $`[Fe/H]=0.37`$ for NGC 1651 based on four stars. Previous photometric studies of these clusters in the optical tend to find significantly lower abundances. For example, Mateo & Hodge (1986) apply various techniques to their UBV CCD photometry to arrive at a mean metallicity of $`[Fe/H]=0.7\pm 0.3`$ for Hodge 4. In the case of NGC 1651, Mould, Da Costa, & Crawford (1986) use the dereddened color of the RGB at the level of the RC to derive $`[M/H]=0.5\pm 0.3`$, while Mould et al. (1997) apply a maximum likelihood isochrone fit to HST photometry (see next Section) to arrive at $`[Fe/H]=0.4`$.

### 5.2 Ages

With the metallicities in hand from the previous section, we can move on to estimating ages for the clusters in the present investigation. The most reliable technique for this purpose is to examine the luminosity of the main sequence turnoff and compare it to the predictions of theoretical isochrones. We are well-placed to perform such a comparison because both Hodge 4 and NGC 1651 possess CCD photometry from the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST).

In the case of Hodge 4, Sarajedini (1998) has published a $`BV`$ CMD that reaches V$``$23. These data were taken in 1994 February before WFPC2 was cooled to its nominal operating temperature, which means that the resulting photometric zeropoints are especially uncertain. In light of this fact, we proceed as follows. Using the theoretical isochrones from Girardi et al. (2000) for Z=0.008 ($`[M/H]=0.4`$) and Z=0.019 ($`[M/H]=0.0`$), we shift them vertically to match the red clump magnitude of Hodge 4 and horizontally to match its unevolved main sequence. The resulting fits are shown in Fig. 5a. The upper panel suggests an age of 1.6 Gyr while the lower panel indicates 1.8 Gyr. When we interpolate to the metallicity we determined earlier, we find that Hodge 4 has an age of $`1.7\pm 0.3`$ Gyr. This agrees reasonably well with the previous determinations from Mateo & Hodge (1986) who found an age of $`2.0\pm 0.5`$ Gyr and Sarajedini (1998) who also estimated an age of 2.0 Gyr. We note that both of these studies determined the age of Hodge 4 based on an adopted metal abundance of $`[Fe/H]=0.7`$ which is significantly lower than our value. Using a higher metal abundance would decrease their quoted ages.

For NGC 1651, we utilize the HST WFPC2 data published by Mould et al. (1997). As in the case of Hodge 4, we use the Girardi et al. (2000) isochrones for Z=0.008 and Z=0.019; we shift the isochrones vertically to match the magnitude of the red clump and horizontally to match the unevolved main sequence. These comparisons are shown in the two panels of Fig. 5b. The upper panel suggests an age of 1.6 Gyr while the lower panel indicates 1.8 Gyr. Given the calculated metal abundance of $`[Fe/H]=0.07\pm 0.10`$ for NGC 1651, the isochrones suggest an age of $`1.8\pm 0.3`$ Gyr. This compares favorably with the two previous CMD studies of this cluster. Mould et al. (1986) find an age of $`2.0\pm 0.8`$ Gyr based on $`BR`$ photometry; Mould et al. (1997) find an age of $`1.6\pm 0.4`$ Gyr based on a maximum likelihood isochrone fit to their HST photometry, which we have used to perform our isochrone comparisons.

### 5.3 Reddenings

Both Hodge 4 and NGC 1651 are located at substantial distances from the LMC bar. As a result, we do not expect them to suffer from significant internal extinction due to the LMC itself. The Burstein & Heiles (1982) maps yield $`E(BV)=0.035`$ and $`E(BV)=0.100`$ for Hodge 4 and NGC 1651, respectively, while the dust maps of Schlegel et al. (1998) give $`E(BV)=0.059`$ and $`E(BV)=0.140`$. These values are sufficiently close to each other that we decided to average them to arrive at our adopted reddening values of $`E(BV)=0.05\pm 0.01`$ and $`E(BV)=0.12\pm 0.02`$ for these clusters. Using the relations quoted by Schlegel et al. (1998), $`A_V=3.1E(BV)`$, $`A_K=0.11A_V`$, $`A_J=0.28A_V`$, these reddenings translate to $`E(JK)=0.03\pm 0.01`$ and $`E(JK)=0.06\pm 0.01`$ for Hodge 4 and NGC 1651.

We can also estimate the cluster reddenings using the intrinsic color of the red clump parameterized in terms of the metallicity and age as shown in Fig. 8 of GS01. Doing this, we find $`(JK)_0=0.600\pm 0.006`$ for Hodge 4 and $`(JK)_0=0.612\pm 0.019`$ for NGC 1651. Combining these with the median observed colors of the red clumps, $`(JK)=0.627\pm 0.006`$ and $`(JK)_0=0.684\pm 0.006`$, respectively, we calculate reddenings of $`E(JK)=0.03\pm 0.01`$ and $`E(JK)=0.07\pm 0.02`$ for Hodge 4 and NGC 1651. Both of these values are in good agreement with the predictions of the reddening maps discussed above.

### 5.4 Distances

With the ages, metallicities, and reddenings in hand, we can proceed to estimate the distance to each cluster. The K-band apparent magnitude of the red clump \[$`K(RC)`$\] is measured using the median of all stars in the boxes shown in Fig. 4, with an error estimated as the standard error of the mean. This is the same technique employing the same size boxes as GS01. The right panels of Fig. 4 display the K-band luminosity function for each cluster clearly illustrating the appearance and location of the RC. We note that, to remain consistent with GS01, whose distance calibration we utilize below, we have not adopted the Gaussian fitting method to estimate $`K(RC)`$ as others have advocated (e.g. Paczyński & Stanek 1998). We also require a value for the absolute magnitude of the red clump in each cluster ($`M_K(RC)`$). This is provided by the calibration of GS01 given the derived values of the age and metal abundance. The results of this procedure are given in Table 1. The quoted error in $`M_K(RC)`$ contains contributions from the errors in metal abundance and age both added in quadrature. In particular, the contributions are 0.047 and 0.066 mag for Hodge 4 and NGC 1651, respectively, due to the metal abundance errors and 0.166 and 0.101 mag as a result of the age errors.

We note that the errors on $`M_K(RC)`$ due to age uncertainties are greater than they would otherwise be because the ages of Hodge 4 and NGC 1651 place them at an inflection point in the relation that governs the behavior of $`M_K(RC)`$ with age (Fig. 6 of GS01). All else being equal, for ages older than $``$2 Gyr, the typical error on $`M_K(RC)`$ is less than 0.1 mag. In any case, the distances of Hodge 4 and NGC 1651 agree reasonably well with each other and lead to a weighted mean value of $`(mM)_0=18.54\pm 0.10`$ corresponding to $`51\pm 3`$ kpc. To within the errors, this agrees with the mean value of $`(mM)_0=18.50\pm 0.04`$ quoted by van den Bergh (1999) based on a variety of distance indicators and the distance determined by Alves et al. (2002) of $`(mM)_0=18.49\pm 0.04`$, which is based on the K-band magnitude of the red clump among LMC field stars. We note in passing that adopting cluster metal abundances that are 0.3 dex lower than those given in Table 1 would increase our mean LMC distance by $``$0.05 mag.

## 6 Near-IR Isochrones

The work of GS01 showed that the K-band red clump absolute magnitudes predicted by the theoretical models of Girardi et al. (2000) agree well with the observed values. With the well-populated RGBs of Hodge 4 and NGC 1651, we can test how well the JK theoretical RGBs fit the observed ones. Like the study of GS01, we utilize the Girardi et al. (2000) models, which are already on the Bessel & Brett (1988) photometric system. Figure 6 shows comparisons between our cluster photometry and the Z=0.008 ($`[M/H]=0.4`$) and Z=0.019 ($`[M/H]=0.0`$) isochrones for an age of 1.8 Gyr using the reddenings and distances quoted above. We see that the slopes of the observed RGBs are somewhat steeper than those of the models. In addition, while the absolute location of the theoretical RGBs agree with that of NGC 1651, it appears that they are too red as compared with the Hodge 4 RGB. Based on their locations relative to the isochrones, the two bright stars in NGC 1651 appear to be on the AGB.

## 7 Conclusions

We present deep JK CMDs for the LMC star clusters Hodge 4 and NGC 1651 revealing the helium burning red clump stars for the first time in the JK passbands. From these diagrams, we draw the following conclusions.

1) The slope of the red giant branch indicates metallicities of $`[Fe/H]=0.17\pm 0.04`$ for Hodge 4 and $`[Fe/H]=0.07\pm 0.10`$ for NGC 1651.

2) By comparing existing optical CMDs that reveal the clusters’ main sequence turnoffs with theoretical isochrones, we find ages of $`1.7\pm 0.3`$ Gyr for Hodge 4 and $`1.8\pm 0.3`$ Gyr for NGC 1651.

3) The Burstein & Heiles (1982) and Schlegel et al. (1998) extinction maps suggest values of $`E(JK)=0.03\pm 0.01`$ and $`E(JK)=0.06\pm 0.01`$ for Hodge 4 and NGC 1651.

4) Using the GS01 K-band red clump luminosity calibration, we find distance moduli of $`(mM)_0=18.52\pm 0.17`$ for Hodge 4 and $`(mM)_0=18.55\pm 0.12`$ for NGC 1651 leading to a mean distance for the LMC of $`(mM)_0=18.54\pm 0.10`$. The quoted errors are dominated by uncertainties in the ages of these clusters. The contributions from errors in the cluster metallicities and reddenings are significantly smaller.

5) Comparison of the near-IR theoretical isochrones of Girardi et al. (2000) suggests that while the overall location of the RGBs matches the observed ones to within the errors, the slopes of the theoretical sequences are shallower than the observed RGBs.

The authors are grateful to Glenn Tiede for stimulating discussions and a careful reading of an early version of this manuscript. The comments of an anonymous referee greatly improved the quality of this paper. This research was supported by NSF CAREER grant AST-0094048.


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# Anisotropic Lattice Models of Electrolytes

## I Introduction

Understanding thermodynamic properties of electrolyte systems is a long-standing problemdebye ; fisher94 ; weingartner01  which, in recent years, has attracted increased attention due to controversial results on the nature of criticality in Coulomb systems.fisher94 ; weingartner01  Experimentspitzer  suggest that the critical region of solutions of some organic salts can be well described by classical behavior, while for other electrolyte systems the Ising-like description with non-classical behavior is more appropriate.japas  This dichotomy has greatly stimulated theoretical attempts to understand the thermodynamics of ionic systems.

Criticality in simple nonionic fluids can be successfully described and analyzed by the renormalization group (RG) method, and it is reasonable to suggest that this method could also be used to investigate also Coulomb systems. However, in order to proceed with RG calculations, a physically meaningful and well based mean-field theory should be developed.fisher94  Most theoretical studies of ionic systems concentrate on the simplest model of electrolytes, the so called restricted primitive model (RPM), in which ions are viewed as equal size particles of positive and negative charges of equal magnitude. Currently, there are two theoretical directions in the development of the mean-field description of ionic fluids. The first approach is based on integral equations for correlation functionsstell95 ; yeh96 ; ciach01 ; blum02 ; brognara02 , while the second approach extends the original Debye-Hückel (DH) theory.fisher94 ; levin94 ; levin96 ; zuckerman97 ; kobelev02  Comprehensive theoretical analysis,levin94 ; levin96 ; zuckerman97  which utilizes for example thermodynamic energy bounds, and comparison with current Monte Carlo simulations,pana02 ; caillol02  indicate that theories based on DH theory may provide a better description of the thermodynamics of electrolytes in critical regions.

So far most of the theoretical efforts in the investigation of charged systems have been devoted to continuum models. However, lattice models are also important for understanding the criticality in Coulomb systems, since the Ising model, which is a lattice gas model, has been crucial for the description of critical phenomena in nonionic systems.fisher94 ; weingartner01  There are few numericalpana99 ; dickman99  and analyticalciach01 ; brognara02 ; kobelev02  results for lattice ionic systems which show that the phase diagram differs significantly from continuum models. The structures of simple cubic (sc) and body-centered cubic (bcc) lattices allow for charge distribution with the appearance of a long-range order phase at low temperatures similar to that of an ionic crystal. However, this ordering decreases entropy and for high temperatures the disordered phase is thermodynamically more stable. As a result, there is an order-disorder phase transition line which ends up at the tricritical point,pana99 ; dickman99 ; brognara02 ; kobelev02  while for continuum RPM systems only a gas-liquid coexistence can be found.

Recently, a systematic investigation of lattice models of electrolytes has been presented.kobelev02  In this investigation the lattice restricted primitive model (LRPM), with charged particles occupying sites on a general $`d`$-dimensional lattice, has been considered using Debye-Hückel theory. By solving exactly the lattice version of the Debye-Hückel equation, closed expressions for thermodynamic properties of general $`d`$-dimensional ionic systems have been obtained. For three-dimensional lattice Coulombic systems specific calculations, which included pairing and dipole-ion solvation, yielded a gas-liquid phase separation at low densities. However, by taking into account the lattice symmetry, it has been shown that for sc and bcc lattices this gas-liquid phase separation is thermodynamically unfavorable, and the order-disorder phase transitions with the tricritical point will dominate, in agreement with Monte Carlo simulation results.pana99 ; dickman99

The thermodynamics of lattice anisotropic ionic systems have not been studied yet, although they may provide important information on thermodynamics of real electrolytes. In addition, the lattice stretching, which leads to anisotropy, can be viewed as analogous of lowering the spatial dimensionality of the system. However, DH-based calculations for the continuumlevin94  and latticekobelev02  models of electrolytes predict an increase of gas-liquid critical temperatures for lower dimensions. Thus, for lattice anisotropic models, gas-liquid phase separation may reappear along with distinct order-disorder phase transitions. This possibility raises the question of the precise determination of phase diagrams for ionic systems on anisotropic lattices.

In this article, we present a theoretical investigation of anisotropic lattice models of electrolytes using the Debye-Hückel method,kobelev02  which has the advantage that it accounts for both electrostatic screening and sublattice ordering in a unified framework. We investigate the ionic systems on three-dimensional lattices obtained by anisotropic stretching of simple cubic and body-centered cubic lattices. The paper is organized as follows. In Sec. II we provide a combined DH and mean-field ordering description of ions on simple tetragonal lattices. The similar analysis for stretched body-centered lattices is given in Sec. III. A discussion and conclusions are presented in Secs. IV and V.

## II Debye-Hückel Theory for Simple Tetragonal Lattices

### II.1 Pure DH theory

Our derivation for anisotropic lattice electrolytes follows closely the Debye-Hückel approach for isotropic lattice ionic systems.kobelev02  We consider a system of equal numbers of positive and negative ions with the total density $`\rho =\rho _{}+\rho _+`$ on a tetragonal lattice, which is obtained by stretching the simple cubic lattice, with unit cell dimensions $`a\times a\times b`$ with an anisotropy factor defined as the ratio of lattice parameters, $`\alpha =a/b`$. The case $`\alpha =1`$ corresponds to the isotropic simple cubic lattice electrolytes which have been studied in detail earlier.kobelev02  The Debye-Hückel approach implies that we can construct the total free energy of the system by summing consecutively the terms which describe interactions between different species. Charged particles interact through the lattice Coulomb potential, otherwise they behave as ideal particles with additional hard-core on-site exclusions. Thus the total free energy density is given by $`f=f^{Id}+f^{DH}`$. The ideal lattice gas contribution can be written as

$$\overline{f}^{Id}=\frac{F}{k_BTV}=\frac{\rho ^{}}{v_0}\mathrm{ln}\rho ^{}\frac{(1\rho ^{})}{v_0}\mathrm{ln}(1\rho ^{}),$$
(1)
where $`\rho ^{}=\rho v_0`$ is the reduced dimensionless density and $`v_0=a^2b`$ is the unit lattice cell volume.

The other term in $`f`$ comes from the Coulombic interactions of the free ions and includes the effect of screening. In order to find an expression for the Debye-Hückel contribution to the free energy density, we need the electric potential felt by an ion due to all other ions. This potential can be found by fixing an arbitrary ion at the origin and solving the linearized Poisson-Boltzmann equation

$$\mathrm{\Delta }\phi (𝐫)=\kappa ^2\phi (𝐫)(C_dq/Dv_0)\delta (r),$$
(2)
where $`\kappa ^2=C_d\beta \rho q^2/D`$ is the inverse squared Debye screening length, with $`\beta =1/k_BT`$ and $`C_d=4\pi `$ for three-dimensional lattices. The lattice Laplacian used in Eq.(2) can be presented in the form which incorporates the geometry of the lattice,

$$\mathrm{\Delta }\phi =\mathrm{\Delta }_x\phi +\mathrm{\Delta }_y\phi +\mathrm{\Delta }_z\phi ,$$
(3)
with

$$\mathrm{\Delta }_i\phi (𝐫)=1/a_i^2\left[\phi (𝐫a_i𝐞_i)2\phi (𝐫)+\phi (𝐫+a_i𝐞_i)\right],$$
(4)
where $`i=x,y,z`$; $`a_x=a_y=a,a_z=b`$ and $`𝐞_i`$ are the unit vectors along the corresponding lattice directions. Then Eq.(2) can be easily solved by Fourier transformation to yield for $`r>0`$

$$\phi (𝐫)=\frac{2\pi qa^2}{3Dv_0}_k\frac{e^{i\mathrm{𝐤𝐫}}}{(x^2+4+2\alpha ^2)/6J(𝐤,\alpha ^2)},$$
(5)
where we introduced the anisotropic lattice function

$$J(𝐤,\gamma )=\frac{1}{c_0}\underset{nn}{}e^{i𝐤𝐚}=\frac{1}{3}(\mathrm{cos}k_1+\mathrm{cos}k_2+\gamma \mathrm{cos}k_3),$$
(6)
$`c_0=6`$ is the number of nearest neighbors, and $`_k(2\pi )^d_\pi ^\pi d^d𝐤`$ and $`x=\kappa a`$. Note that the vectors $`𝐤=(k_1/a,k_2/a,k_3/b)`$ describe the reciprocal lattice.

To compute the electric potential at the origin due to the surrounding ions, it is recalled that no other ion can be placed at that site, and hence the appropriate equation is the Laplace’s equation,

$$\mathrm{\Delta }\phi (𝐫=0)=0.$$
(7)
This enables us to write

$$\mathrm{\Delta }_x\phi (𝐫=0)=\mathrm{\Delta }_y\phi (𝐫=0)=\mathrm{\Delta }_z\phi (𝐫=0)=0,$$
(8)
which yields

$`\phi (\mathrm{𝟎})`$ $`=`$ $`(\phi (𝐫a𝐞_x)+\phi (𝐫+a𝐞_x))/2`$
$`=`$ $`(\phi (𝐫a𝐞_y)+\phi (𝐫+a𝐞_y))/2`$
$`=`$ $`(\phi (𝐫a𝐞_z)+\phi (𝐫+a𝐞_z))/2`$
Then from Eqs. (5) and (II.1) it follows that

$$\phi (\mathrm{𝟎})=\frac{2\pi qa^2}{Dv_0(2+\alpha ^2)}_k\frac{J(𝐤,\alpha ^2)}{(x^2+4+2\alpha ^2)/6J(𝐤,\alpha ^2)}.$$
(10)
Following the DH approach for isotropic lattices,kobelev02  we introduce the integrated anisotropic lattice Green’s function

$$P(z,\alpha )=_𝐤\frac{1}{1zJ(𝐤,\alpha ^2)},$$
(11)
which has been evaluated exactly in terms of a product of two complete elliptic integrals of the first kind by Joyce.joyce01  Then the total potential at the origin due to the surrounding ions, $`\psi (0)=\phi (0)\phi (0)|_{x=0}`$, takes the form

$$\psi =\frac{2\pi q}{Db(2+\alpha ^2)}\left[P(\frac{6}{x^2+4+2\alpha ^2},\alpha )P(\frac{6}{4+2\alpha ^2},\alpha )\right].$$
(12)
By using the Debye charging procedure, the reduced electrostatic free energy density can be calculated explicitly, yielding

$$\overline{f}^{DH}=\frac{1}{4(2+\alpha ^2)v_0}\left[x^2P(\frac{6}{4+\alpha ^2},\alpha )_0^{x^2}P(\frac{6}{x^2+4+\alpha ^2},\alpha )d(x^2)\right].$$
(13)
The chemical potential, $`\overline{\mu }=\mu /k_BT=\overline{f}/\rho `$, is then given by

$$\overline{\mu }=\mathrm{ln}\rho ^{}\mathrm{ln}(1\rho ^{})\frac{\pi }{(2+\alpha ^2)T^{}}\left[P(\frac{6}{4+\alpha ^2},\alpha )P(\frac{6}{x^2+4+\alpha ^2},\alpha )\right],$$
(14)
where, following the continuum DH theorylevin96  and the DH theory for isotropic cubic lattices,kobelev02  the reduced temperature is defined as

$$T^{}=\frac{Dk_BTv_0}{q^2a^2}=\frac{Db}{q^2\beta }=\frac{Da}{q^2\beta \alpha },$$
(15)
and for the reduced density we obtain

$$\rho ^{}=\frac{x^2T^{}}{4\pi }.$$
(16)
Knowing the free energy density and the chemical potential allows us to calculate the pressure, $`\overline{p}=p/k_BT=\mathrm{max}_\rho [\overline{f}+\overline{\mu }\rho ]`$, yielding

$$\overline{p}v_0=\mathrm{ln}(1\rho ^{})+\frac{1}{4(2+\alpha ^2)}\left[x^2P(\frac{6}{x^2+4+2\alpha ^2},\alpha )_0^{x^2}P(\frac{6}{x^2+4+2\alpha ^2},\alpha )d(x^2)\right].$$
(17)
Eqs. (1), (13), (14) and (17) provide a full thermodynamic description of the simple tetragonal lattice model of electrolytes. The thermodynamics at the critical region can be investigated by analyzing the spinodal, which is determined by the condition $`\rho \frac{\overline{\mu }}{\rho }=0`$. Using Eq. (14) we obtain

$$T_s^{}=\frac{2\pi }{(2+\alpha ^2)}\frac{\zeta (1\zeta )P(\zeta )/\zeta }{2+(1\zeta )^2P(\zeta )/\zeta },$$
(18)
with $`\zeta =6/(x^2+4+2\alpha ^2)`$.

The phase transitions and the gas-liquid coexistence can be studied by analyzing the pressure and the chemical potential in different phases. The predicted gas-liquid coexistence curves for simple tetragonal lattices are shown in Fig.1. The critical temperature increases monotonically as the anisotropy parameter decreases and reaches the value of $`T_c^{}=1/2`$ at $`\alpha =0`$: see Fig.2a. At the same time, the critical density shows a non-monotonic behavior with two maxima and a minimum, and finally approaches the value $`\rho _c^{}=0`$ at $`\alpha =0`$, as shown in Fig.2b. Lowering the anisotropy parameter can be visualized as the stretching the lattice along one direction, and the limit of $`\alpha 0`$ corresponds to an infinite distance between the layers. Thus the anisotropic lattice model at $`\alpha =0`$ is equivalent to the 2D Coulomb system on square lattice, for which the pure DH theorykobelev02  predicts the critical parameters to be $`T_c^{}=1/4`$ and $`\rho _c^{}=0`$. The apparent discrepancy between our results for the critical temperature and the results for two-dimensional lattice electrolyteskobelev02  can be easily explained by analyzing the linearized Poisson-Boltzmann Eq.(2). In our calculations we used the three-dimensional coefficient $`C_d=4\pi `$, while in two dimensions this coefficient is equal to $`2\pi `$, which explains the factor 2 in the difference in the corresponding values of the critical temperatures.

At the limit of large $`\alpha `$ the lattice is stretched along 2 directions, and thus the anisotropic lattice with $`\alpha =\mathrm{}`$ corresponds to the 1D lattice Coulomb system. Our predictions for critical parameters in this case are $`T_c^{}=0`$ and $`\rho _c^{}=0`$, while for one-dimensional lattice electrolytes the DH-based calculations give $`T_c^{}=\mathrm{}`$ and $`\rho _c^{}=0`$. In this case, the difference in critical temperatures can be attributed to our definition of the reduced temperature in Eq.(15). Note, however, that the DH method is incorrect in describing one-dimensional ionic systems.kobelev02  The overall agreement between our estimates of critical parameters of strongly anisotropic lattice models of electrolytes and the results for 1D and 2D ionic lattice systems supports our arguments that anisotropic stretching is analogous to lowering of spatial dimensionality for simple cubic lattices.

A surprising feature of the predicted coexistence curves is the critical density dependence on the lattice anisotropy as exhibited in Fig.2b. It shows two maxima (at $`\alpha =0.4`$ and $`\alpha =4.175`$) and one minimum (at $`\alpha =1`$); this picture is probably the result of geometric and packing effects.

### II.2 Sublattice Ordering

The Debye-Hückel approach presented above describes only the low-density behavior of the system. To obtain the full thermodynamic description of simple tetragonal lattices we have to take into account the lattice symmetry. A simple tetragonal lattice, similarly to a simple cubic lattice, can be viewed as consisting of two intercalated sublattices. Ions of opposite signs can be distributed unequally between these sublattices, thus reducing the electrostatic contribution to the free energy. At the same time, unequal distribution of charged particles lowers the entropy which leads to an increase in the total free energy. The competition between these factors determine the thermodynamics and phase behavior of the system.

We consider again a simple tetragonal cubic lattice with $`N`$ charged particles. The overall system is neutral, and there are $`N_A^+`$ ($`N_A^{}`$) positive (negative) particles in sublattice $`A`$, and $`N_B^+`$ ($`N_B^{}`$) positive (negative) particles in sublattice $`B`$. Assuming that sublattice $`A`$ has an excess of positive ions, the corresponding order parameter can be defined as

$$y=\frac{N_A^+N_A^{}}{N_A^++N_A^{}}=\frac{N_B^+N_B^{}}{N_B^++N_B^{}}.$$
(19)
This order parameter has a positive value in the ordered phase, while it equals to zero in the disordered phase.

The nonzero charge density on each sublattice produces an additional “background” potential $`\mathrm{\Phi }(𝐫)`$ which, however, does not change the correlation functions.kobelev02  This potential can be found using the linearized Poisson-Boltzmann equation

$$\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Phi }(𝐫_A)=(4\pi /D)\rho yq.$$
(20)
Because of the symmetry between sublattices, we have $`\mathrm{\Phi }(𝐫_A)=\mathrm{\Phi }(𝐫_B)`$. By using the definition of the lattice Laplacian (3)-(4), and following the approach outlined for isotropic lattice electrolytes,kobelev02  we obtain for the potential $`\psi `$ due to all ions except the one fixed at the origin the following expression

$$\psi (𝐫_A)=\frac{\pi }{2+\alpha ^2}\frac{\rho ^{}yq}{Db}+\psi ^{DH},$$
(21)
where $`\psi ^{DH}`$ is given in Eq.(12). The electrostatic part of the total free energy then follows again from the Debye charging process, while the entropic contribution can be calculated as for isotropic lattices,dickman99 ; kobelev02  yielding $`\overline{f}=\overline{f}^{Id}+\overline{f}^{DH}+\overline{f}^{Ord}`$ with

$$\overline{f}^{Ord}=\frac{\pi }{2(2+\alpha ^2)}\frac{\rho ^{}y^2}{v_0T^{}}\frac{\rho ^{}}{2v_0}\left[(1+y)\mathrm{ln}(1+y)+(1y)\mathrm{ln}(1y)2\mathrm{ln}2\right],$$
(22)
where $`\overline{f}^{Id}`$ and $`\overline{f}^{DH}`$ are given by Eqs.(1) and (13).

The knowledge of the total free energy allows us to investigate the possibility of sublattice ordering. It can be done by looking for minima of $`\overline{f}^{Ord}`$ for nonzero values of the order parameter $`y`$. This procedure leads us to the equation describing the $`\lambda `$-line, along which second-order phase transitions occur,

$$\rho _\lambda ^{}=\frac{2+\alpha ^2}{\pi }T^{}.$$
(23)
The anticipated tricritical point can be found by calculating the intersection of the $`\lambda `$-line with the spinodal $`\overline{p}/\rho ^{}=0`$, and this analysis yields the equation for the tricritical point,dickman99 ; kobelev02

$$\frac{4(2+\alpha ^2)}{\rho _{tri}^{}}\left[\frac{P_s[6/(x^2+4+2\alpha ^2),\alpha ]}{(x^2)}\right]|_{x^2=4(2+\alpha ^2)}+\frac{1}{1\rho _{tri}^{}}\frac{3}{2}=0.$$
(24)
The resulting tricritical densities and temperatures for different values of the anisotropic parameter $`\alpha `$ are presented in Figs.2a and 2c. The tricritical temperature is a decreasing function of the anisotropy parameter, and it reaches its maximal value of $`T_{tri}=0.5960`$ at $`\alpha =0`$, which is exactly twice the value of the tricritical temperature for the ionic system on the two-dimensional square lattice (see Eq.(70) of Ref. kobelev02 ). This deviation is again the result of using different dimension-dependent coefficients $`C_d`$, as was argued above. Both critical and tricritical temperatures vanish at large anisotropies, however, $`T_{tri}`$ becomes smaller than $`T_c`$ for $`\alpha >4.25`$. The behavior of the tricritical density is different. It has a minimal value for the isotropic lattice ($`\alpha =1`$), and it reaches the maximal values of $`\rho _c=0.3794`$ and $`\rho _c=0.416`$ for $`\alpha =0`$ and $`\alpha =\mathrm{}`$ respectively.

The phase diagrams for simple tetragonal lattices are presented in Fig.3. For weakly anisotropic lattices there are only order-disorder phase transitions, while for strongly anisotropic lattices the gas-liquid phase separation reappears at low densities.

## III Theory for Body-Centered Tetragonal Lattice

Consider a system of equal numbers of positive and negative ions on the body-centered tetragonal lattice with $`2a\times 2a\times 2b`$ unit lattice cell. Using the symmetry of the lattice and applying Eqs.(3) and (4) the lattice Laplacian for tetragonal body-centered lattice is given by

$$\mathrm{\Delta }\phi (𝐫)=\frac{2(2+\alpha ^2)}{3c_0a^2}\underset{𝐚_{nn}}{}\left[\phi (𝐫+𝐚_{nn})\phi (𝐫)\right],$$
(25)
where $`\alpha =a/b`$ and the summation runs over all $`c_0=8`$ neighbors in a cell. When $`a=b`$ this reduces to the well known lattice Laplacian for the body centered cubic lattice.katsura71 ; kobelev02  Because of the special symmetry of body-centered lattice, the lattice function

$$J_b(𝐤)=\frac{1}{c_0}\underset{nn}{}e^{i𝐤𝐚}=\mathrm{cos}k_1\mathrm{cos}k_2\mathrm{cos}k_3,$$
(26)
in contrast to the simple tetragonal lattice, is independent of the anisotropy parameter $`\alpha `$. Thus the isotropic bcc lattice Green’s function $`P_b(z)=_𝐤\frac{1}{1zJ_b(𝐤)}`$ can be used for calculation of the thermodynamic properties. Then the potential at the origin due to the surrounding ions takes the form

$$\psi =\frac{2\pi q}{Dv_0}\frac{3a^2}{(2+\alpha ^2)}\left[P_b\left(\frac{4+2\alpha ^2}{x^2+4+2\alpha ^2}\right)P_b(1)\right],$$
(27)
and the electrostatic free energy is given by

$$\overline{f}^{DH}=\frac{1}{4(2+\alpha ^2)v_0}\left[x^2P_b(1)_0^{x^2}P_b\left(\frac{4+2\alpha ^2}{x^2+4+2\alpha ^2}\right)d(x^2)\right].$$
(28)
Furthermore, the ordering free energy does not depend on the type of lattice kobelev02  and is the same both for the simple and body centered lattices. Therefore we can use the corresponding expression from (22) and estimate the tricritical point from Eq.(24) by using $`P_b(\frac{4+2\alpha ^2}{x^2+4+2\alpha ^2})`$ instead of the simple tetragonal Green’s function $`P[6/(x^2+4+2\alpha ^2),\alpha ]`$. Phase diagrams for electrolytes on the tetragonal body-centered lattices are shown in Fig.4.

Analysis of phase diagrams for the body-centered lattice models of ionic systems indicate that both critical and tricritical densities are independent of the degree of lattice stretching, while $`T_c^{}`$ and $`T_{tri}^{}`$ are decreasing functions of $`\alpha `$. These relations can be understood by analyzing the corresponding equation for the spinodal,

$$T_s^{}=\frac{2\pi }{(2+\alpha ^2)}\frac{\zeta (1\zeta )P_b(\zeta )/\zeta }{2+(1\zeta )^2P_b(\zeta )/\zeta },$$
(29)
where $`\zeta =(4+2\alpha ^2)/(x^2+4+2\alpha ^2)`$. Since the lattice Green’s function $`P_b(\zeta )`$ is independent of the anisotropy parameter $`\alpha `$, the critical point can be described by the parameter $`x_c^2=2(2+\alpha ^2)(1\zeta _c)/\zeta _c`$ with $`\zeta _c`$ being independent of $`\alpha `$, while $`T_c^{}1/(2+\alpha ^2)`$. Then, utilizing Eq.(16) the critical density $`\rho _c=x_c^2T_c^{}/4\pi `$ is also independent of $`\alpha `$. Similar arguments can now be applied for the analysis of the tricritical point. The thermodynamic behavior of the tetragonal body-centered lattice electrolytes is then different from that of the simple tetragonal lattice ionic systems. Since critical and tricritical temperature decay at the same rate as functions of the anisotropy parameter $`\alpha `$, while $`\rho _c^{}`$ and $`\rho _{tri}^{}`$ are constant, the possible low-density gas-liquid coexistence is suppressed by order-disorder phase transitions with a tricritical point at any degree of anisotropy, as shown in Fig.4.

## IV Discussion.

Our analysis of simple tetragonal lattice models of electrolytes based on the DH approach indicates that, similarly to isotropic sc ionic lattice systems, at weak anisotropies ($`0.385<\alpha <2.113`$) the possible low-density gas-liquid phase separation is metastable, and the sublattice ordering is always thermodynamically more favorable. However, for strongly anisotropic simple lattices ($`\alpha <0.385`$ or $`\alpha >2.113`$) the gas-liquid coexistence reappears and the phase diagram becomes more complex, with critical, tricritical and triple points, as shown in Fig.3. The explanation of this phenomenon is the following. For weakly anisotropic lattices the ordering of ions of opposite signs on different sublattices decreases significantly the total free energy, and order-disorder phase transitions with a tricritical point determines the phase diagram of the system. For strongly anisotropic lattices this ordering is less significant at low densities and the gas-liquid phase separation is restored. Another way of looking at this phenomenon, as was discussed above, is the analogy between lattice stretching and lowering of the space dimensionality. As was shown before,kobelev02  at low dimensions the critical temperature is increasing and thus gas-liquid coexistence occurs again at low densities.

However, the thermodynamic behavior of Coulomb systems on body-centered tetragonal lattices is very different. At all degrees of anisotropy, the sublattice ordering is thermodynamically more stable, and gas-liquid phase separation is always suppressed. This is the result of the special symmetry of body-centered lattices.

Our pure Debye-Hückel treatment of anisotropic lattice electrolytes assumed that there are only free ions and empty sites in the system. However, at low temperatures the formation of strongly bound neutral dimers, or Bjerrum pairs,bjerrum ; levin96 ; kobelev02  is a highly favorable process. Such pairing can be viewed as a reversible chemical reaction,fisher94 ; levin96 ; kobelev02  and this process can be treated in a systematic way. Another important contribution to the free energy of electrolytes is the ion-dipole solvation energy.fisher94 ; levin96 ; kobelev02  The formation of ion pairs and their interactions with single ions have a strong effect on the thermodynamic properties and phase diagrams of electrolytes.levin96 ; kobelev02  Our theoretical method can be extended to include these effects, although, due to anisotropy of the lattice system, there will be more than one type of bound neutral dimers. Based on the comparison with the continuum and isotropic lattice electrolytes,levin96 ; kobelev02  we predict that, if we take these effects into account, both critical and tricritical temperatures will decrease, while critical and tricritical densities will increase. However, this means that our qualitative conclusions on thermodynamics and phase diagrams of anisotropic cubic lattices will not change.

It is interesting to note that similar phase diagrams of lattice electrolytes have been obtained by Ciach and Stell.ciach01  They considered a mean-field theory of electrolytes with single-ion lattice potential on the isotropic sc lattice and additional short-range interactions. Note that this treatment neglects the cooperative screening, which is thermodynamically important and which is included in our DH-based theory. However, the origins of similar complex phase diagrams in both models are different. In the model of Ciach and Stell the gas-liquid phase coexistence is driven by short-range interactions, while in our model the lattice stretching makes the sublattice ordering less thermodynamically favorable at low densities and, as a result, gas-liquid phase separation is restored.

## V Conclusions

We have extended the Debye-Hückel method to treat three-dimensional anisotropic lattice models of electrolytes. Phase diagrams for different degrees of anisotropy have been obtained. For weakly anisotropic simple tetragonal lattices, the order-disorder phase transitions with a tricritical point suppress the possibility of low-density gas-liquid phase transitions. However, for strongly anisotropic lattices gas-liquid phase coexistence is restored. Thus the lattice anisotropy for simple tetragonal lattices mimics the lowering of the spatial dimensionality. However, the thermodynamics of the body-centered tetragonal lattice ionic systems is very different. There is no gas-liquid separation and the phase diagram has only order-disorder phase transitions for all degrees of anisotropy. This is the consequence of the special symmetry of body-centered lattices.

The relevance of our results for understanding the thermodynamics of real ionic fluids remains unclear. However, our method may be more useful for description of the thermodynamics of real ionic crystals with defects.crystal  Furthermore, numerical simulations of the anisotropic lattice ionic models with lattice Coulombic potentials are clearly needed in order to check the validity of our theoretical predictions.

## ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Acknowledgement is made to the Donors of the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund (Grant #37867-G6) for support of this research. We also acknowledge the support of the Camille and Henry Dreyfus New Faculty Awards Program (under Grant No. NF-00-056). We would like to thank Prof. M.E. Fisher, Prof. A.Z. Panagiotopoulos and Prof. M. Robert for critical comments and useful suggestions.

Figure Captions

Fig.1. Gas-liquid coexistence curves for simple tetragonal cubic lattices predicted by pure DH theory for different values of the lattice anisotropy parameter $`\alpha `$.

Fig.2. Critical parameters as a function of degree of anisotropy: (a) critical and tricritical temperatures; (b) critical density; (c) tricritical density.

Fig.3. Phase diagrams of electrolytes on simple tetragonal lattices with sublattice ordering for different degrees of anisotropy: (a) for $`\alpha =1`$ and $`\alpha =0.1`$; (b) for $`\alpha =15`$. Dashed lines show the metastable gas-liquid coexistence curves predicted by pure DH theory.

Fig.4. Phase diagrams for ionic systems on body-centered tetragonal lattices with sublattice ordering. The gas-liquid coexistence curves predicted by pure DH theory are shown by dashed lines.


text:
# A Note on the Positive Constant Curvature Space

## Acknowledgments

The author thanks H.Y. Guo and J.X. Lu for useful discussions, and C.T. Shi for help in drawing the figures. This work was supported in part by a grant from Chinese Academy of Sciences.


text:
# THE TYPE Ia SUPERNOVA 1999aw: A PROBABLE 1999aa–LIKE EVENT IN A LOW-LUMINOSITY HOST GALAXY

## 1 Introduction

Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) offer arguably the most precise method to measure cosmological distances. Over the last ten years, these highly luminous explosions have been used to determine distances accurate to $`7\%`$, despite the fact that we know little about their progenitors. These objects show considerable uniformity in their absolute B magnitudes at maximum light with an intrinsic dispersion of less than 0.4 mag (Hamuy et al. 1996b). This scatter is greatly reduced by the application of empirical relations linking the luminosity at maximum to the width, or decay rate, of the lightcurve (Luminosity-Width Relations, or LWRs). More luminous SNe Ia decline in brightness after maximum at slower rates than less luminous SNe Ia. The $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`m_{15}(B)`$ relation (Phillips 1993, Hamuy et al. 1996a, Phillips et al. 1999), which is a measure of the decay in the B band lightcurve from peak to 15 days after peak, has reduced the scatter around the hubble law to less than 0.2 mag, making it a powerful tool in using SNe Ia at high redshifts to investigate cosmological parameters. Including reddening corrections further decreases the dispersion in the Hubble diagram to 0.14 mag (Phillips et al. 1999). An equally effective method developed by Riess, Press, & Kirshner (1996) uses the lightcurve shapes in multiple passbands to simultaneously estimate the SN Ia luminosity and amount of extinction/reddening. This MLCS method has demonstrated it can produce Hubble diagrams with dispersions of only 0.12 mag (6% in distance).

Attention is now being directed to the possible systematic errors involved in using these objects as high redshift distance indicators. Part of the challenge lies in untangling the dispersion of SNe Ia lightcurve widths from possible sub-populations of Type Ia supernovae. With more discoveries of nearby supernovae in various host environments, and the development of new spectroscopic and photometric techniques for isolating these sub-populations, we may soon be able to determine $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ with lower systematic uncertainties as well as hone in on the progenitors of SNe Ia.

Over the past three years, the Nearby Galaxies Supernova Search Team (NGSS) has conducted successful search campaigns for supernovae of all types using the Kitt Peak National Observatory’s 36-inch telescope and the Mosaic North camera (Mosaic I). Each of our 5 - 8 night campaigns have allowed us to search $``$ 250 fields (each nearly 1$`\mathrm{°}`$ square) along the celestial equator and out of the Galactic plane to limiting magnitudes of $`R21`$. At the project’s end, we had searched nearly 750 fields and discovered 42 supernovae. The goals of this project have been to understand supernova rates (for all SNe types) in both field and galaxy cluster environments, to investigate correlations of SN type with host galaxy environments, and to increase knowledge of observationally rare and peculiar SN types through increased detailed photometric and spectroscopic observations. Further information concerning the NGSS project goals and methods will be described in a forthcoming paper (Strolger et al. 2003b, in preparation, hereafter referred to as Paper 2).

SN 1999aw was one of the supernovae discovered during the first of the NGSS campaigns (Feb. 20 - Feb. 24, and Mar. 04 - Mar. 09, 1999) which was conducted in co-operation with the Supernova Cosmology Project (SCP; Aldering 2000, Nugent & Aldering 2000). Initial discovery and confirmation images surprisingly showed a bright new object in a location which was devoid of galaxies on the template images taken only a few weeks earlier. Spectroscopic and photometric evidence show SN 1999aw is a member of an intriguing subclass of Type Ia supernovae, characterized spectroscopically by SN 1999aa (Li et al. 2001). These unusual supernovae have lightcurve shapes that are slightly different from those of normal Type Ia (Strolger et al. 2003a, also in preparation; see also Section 5.1). These differences, although not yet completely understood, may be key in understanding not only the physical processes of this subclass, but of all SNe Ia, and may place limits on models of Type Ia progenitors.

In Section 2 we discuss the discovery, confirmation, and classification of SN 1999aw. In Section 3 we present several epochs of optical spectra and discuss their similarity to 1999aa-like supernovae. In Section 4 we present the optical and infrared photometry, and the calibrations and corrections. In Section 5 we show the photometric similarity to 1991T/1999aa SNe, determine the bolometric lightcurve, estimate the luminosity at maximum light, and estimate the initial 56Ni mass. In Section 6 we present the photometry of the host galaxy and discuss the host environment.

## 2 Discovery, Confirmation, and Initial Identification

SN 1999aw was discovered in search images obtained on UT 1999 Mar. 9 with J2000.0 coordinates R.A. = 11h01m36.37s, Decl. = $``$06°06′31.6″111Based on the WCS, as determined from stellar registrations to the USNO2 Catalog.. No star was seen at its location in images obtained on UT 1999 Feb. 23 (see Figure 1 for the discovery image). Our methods for the discovery of candidate supernovae are outlined in detail in Paper 2. To summarize, for a given field, a pair of second epoch images were taken two weeks to two months after a template image was obtained. These second epoch images were then aligned to the template image by stellar matching algorithms. The images from the epoch with the better seeing were convolved to match that of the worst, and then scaled to be at the same flux level. The template image was subtracted from the second epoch images to produce residual images that, in principle, contain only variable objects, transients, and cosmic rays, on a nearly zero-level background with noise. The residual images were then automatically searched for candidates, with search parameter ranges set to eliminate cosmic rays and moving objects by requiring consistency between the pairs of second-epoch images. As described in Paper 2, the routines used in the image subtractions for this first campaign were developed by the Supernova Cosmology Project for use in their high-z supernova searches (Perlmutter et al. 1997, 1999).

The candidate supernova was photometrically confirmed on UT 1999 Mar. 10 in direct images obtained by R. Covarrubias at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) 0.9-meter telescope. The direct images showed that the object had not moved, within the limits of the seeing, in the time since its discovery. Figure 2 shows SN 1999aw 11 days after discovery, and 3 days after maximum light.

The candidate was identified as a Type Ia supernova near maximum light from spectra obtained by A. Goobar, T. Dahlen, and I. Hook on UT 1999 Mar. 16.1 at the 2.6-meter Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) using the Andalucia Faint Object Spectrograph and Camera (ALFOSC)222Observations were made with the Nordic Optical Telescope, operated on the island of La Palma jointly by Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias.. Wavelength coverage was $`40008000`$Å with a resolution of 700 (or 430 km/s). A day later, L.-G. Strolger and R. C. Smith also obtained spectra at the CTIO 4.0-meter Blanco telescope (UT Mar. 17.3) using the R-C Spectrograph. The effective wavelength coverage was 3400 - 7500 Å, with an approximate resolution of 1000 (or 300 km/s)333The 3K x 1K Loral CCD was used with the KPGL2 grating and the blue collimator.. From these spectra (presented in Figure 3), M. M. Phillips confirmed the initial identification by Goobar et al., and based on the very small ratio of Si II$`\lambda `$5978 absorption relative to the Si II$`\lambda `$6355 line (see Nugent et al. 1995a), suggested that SN 1999aw was likely to be a luminous, slow-declining SN Ia.

## 3 Optical Spectroscopy

Although SNe Ia generally show similar spectral evolution (e.g., Branch et al. 1993), Nugent et al. (1995a) showed that a spectral sequence exists for SNe Ia which is analogous to the luminosity-decline rate relations. Specifically, certain spectral features show a systematic variation as a function of $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`m_{15}(B)`$. Nugent et al. argued that this spectral sequence is due primarily to the differences in effective temperature which are presumably correlated with the amount of 56Ni produced in the explosion.

At maximum light, spectroscopically normal SNe Ia exhibit strong Ca II H and K features near 3750 Å, and strong Si II$`\lambda `$6355 absorption which is blue-shifted by the high velocity of the expansion to appear near 6150Å in the rest frame of the event (Minkowski 1940, Pskovskii 1969, Branch & Patchett 1973). Excellent examples of normal SNe Ia are SNe 1981B, 1989B, 1992A, and 1994D. In general, there are two groups of the spectroscopically “peculiar” Type Ia SNe, also characterized near maximum light: SN 1991T-like events, and SN 1991bg-like events. 1991bg-like supernovae show wide absorption from 4150 - 4400 Å due to Ti II, and an enhanced 5800 Å feature (commonly attributed to Si II) in relation to Si II$`\lambda `$6355 (Filippenko et al. 1992, Leibundgut et al. 1993). The 5800 Å feature has been recently shown to be dominated by Ti II absorption (rather than Si II) in SN 1991bg-like SNe, and may even be considerably significant in spectroscopically normal SNe (Garnavich et al. 2001). Alternatively, 1991T-like SNe have prominent Fe II and Fe III features at maximum light, but little or no Si II, S II, or Ca II (Phillips et al. 1992). A week after maximum light, however, the Si II, S II and Ca II features develop, and the spectra become virtually indistinguishable from normal Type Ia.

Nugent et al. (1995a) showed that 1991bg-like events correspond to the low-temperature end of the SNe Ia spectroscopic sequence (a fact supported by Garnavich et al. 2001), while 1991T-like events are associated with the highest effective temperatures. Normal SNe Ia inhabit the middle range of the sequence, where Ti II absorption is weak, the ratio of Si II$`\lambda `$6355 to Si II$`\lambda `$5800 is relatively high, and the Ca II H and K trough is strong. Hence it may be more precise to refer to 1991bg-like and 1991T-like events as the extremes in a spectroscopic sequence rather than as “peculiar” events.

Li et al. (2001) also document a variation of SN 1991T-like events for supernova spectra that resemble SNe 1999aa, 1998es, and 1999ac. These SN 1999aa-like supernovae are similar to 1991T-like SNe supernovae, but show some Si II$`\lambda `$6355 prior to maximum light (stronger than in 1991T-like SNe, but weaker than in normal Type Ia SNe), and clearly present Fe II and Fe III lines near maximum light. They also exhibit strong Ca II H and K lines.

The spectra of SN 1999aw obtained by Goobar et al. (Mar. 16.1) and Strolger and Smith (Mar. 17.3) are displayed in Figure 3, and clearly show a SN Ia at or near maximum light. In Figure 4, the Mar. 17.3 spectrum is compared with maximum-light spectra of four other SNe Ia with similarly-slow decline rates. SN 1990O was observed by Hamuy et al. (1996c), and in spectra as early as 8 days before maximum clearly showed strong Si II$`\lambda `$6355 absorption (Phillips et al., in preparation). SN 1992P was also observed by Hamuy et al. (1996c). Although nothing is known about its spectrum a week or more before maximum, the spectrum plotted in Figure 4 also shows strong Si II$`\lambda `$6355 absorption at maximum. SN 1999aa is the prototype of the 1999aa-like events described in the previous paragraph. Overall, the spectrum of this supernova (reproduced from Fig. 5 of Li et al. 2001) is very similar to those of SNe 1990O and 1992P, except that the Si II$`\lambda `$6355 absorption is noticeably weaker. At the bottom of Figure 4 we plot the spectrum of SN 1999aw obtained on Mar. 17.3. The similarity to the spectrum of SN 1999aa is striking, with the only significant differences being the somewhat broader lines and stronger Ca II absorption of SN 1999aw. In section 4 we shall give further evidence for such a link based on the optical and IR light curves.

On UT 1999 Apr. 23, M. M. Phillips obtained a spectrum of SN 1999aw using the duPont 2.5-m telescope at Las Campanas Observatory (see Figure 3). The WFCCD was used in spectroscopic mode at a resolution of 630 (or 480 km/s) and the data covered the approximate wavelength range of 3750$``$9250Å. The date of observation corresponds to an epoch of 37 days after maximum light. By this late epoch, SNe Ia have begun their nebular phase, where their photospheres have essentially disappeared and their spectra become montages of blended emission features (Wells et al. 1994). The peaks of these features, fortunately, do not change substantially with time, hence they can be used to determine the redshift of SN 1999aw relative to SNe Ia with well-determined host galaxy redshifts and late epoch spectra.

We compared the UT 1999 Apr. 23 spectrum to spectra of SNe 1992bc, 1989B, and 1992A taken at epochs of +37 days, +36 days, and +36 days past maximum light respectively, and determined the relative shift between them. Using the host galaxy redshifts given in NED444This research has made use of the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration., we calculated the redshift for SN 1999aw of 0.0392, 0.0372, and 0.0380, respectively. The mean result is $`z=0.038\pm 0.001`$ which we will use throughout this paper.

An additional late-time spectrum of SN 1999aw was obtained by M. Hamuy on UT 1999 May 19 using the NTT 3.6-m telescope at European Southern Observatory (see Figure 5). The EMMI was used in spectroscopic mode at a resolution of 600 (or 500 km/s) and an approximate wavelength range of 4600$``$8600Å. The date of this observation corresponds to an epoch of 64 days after maximum light, at which time the supernova was more “nebular” than in previous epochs, with more pronounced emission features. Recalculating the redshift to SN 1999aw based on the centers of Fe III$`\lambda `$4658 and Co III$`\lambda `$5890 results in $`z=0.037\pm 0.002`$, which is consistent with the redshift determined from the UT 1999 Apr. 23 spectrum.

## 4 Photometry and lightcurves

### 4.1 Optical Photometry

Our search techniques provided bulk SNe detections, and therefore we could schedule sufficient follow-up observations to produce well-sampled light curves. Following the search campaign, we obtained several optical images using scheduled time on the CTIO 0.9-meter, 1.5-meter, and 1.0-meter (YALO) telescopes. The scheduling was planned such that the sampling would produce at least one data point every three nights, in each of the BVRI filters, for at least 30 days after the discovery. We also obtained scheduled observations from various other telescopes. Data were reduced (bias subtracted and flat-field corrected) using standard IRAF555IRAF is distributed by the National Optical Astronomy Observatories, which are operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. packages for reducing multiple and single amplifier data. A shutter correction was measured for CTIO 0.9-meter, and 1.5-meter data, and applied to short exposures ($`<20`$ seconds).

The brightness of SN 1999aw, and its lack of host galaxy-light contamination, allowed accurate aperture photometry to be performed, without the need for late-time galaxy-light subtraction. Using the DAOPHOT II package (Stetson 1992), data from photometric nights were compared with stars from tabulated standard fields (Landolt 1992). Interactive iterative solutions were made to construct a growth curve and mean aperture correction for stars on each frame. Solutions were then calculated for the coefficients of the linear color and airmass terms to convert from natural to standard apparent magnitudes (see Appendix, Tables A7 and A8). A set of local field standards stars was then produced around SN 1999aw (see Figure 2), tied to the Landolt (1992) standard stars observed. Table 1 contains the sequence of local photometric standards, coordinate offsets in arcseconds from SN 1999aw (based on the WCS), and the photometric indices of these standards along with the mean errors. Data of the SN from all other nights were compared to the data from the photometric nights using these standardized local field stars. Table 2 contains the epochs of observation of SN 1999aw, and the BVRI photometry along with the photometric errors. These optical lightcurves are plotted in Figure 6.

As expected from the identifying spectra, SN 1999aw did indeed dim after peak at a slower-than-average rate. We performed a Monte Carlo simulation to randomly vary each data point within the photometric error 300 times, each time least-squares fitting a 3rd order polynomial to the peak of the B band lightcurve. Averaging the solutions to the simulations led to the B-band peak of $`B_{max}=16.88\pm 0.01`$ on JD 2451254.7$`\pm 0.3`$ (UT Mar. 17.2), and a decline rate within the first 15 days after maximum light of $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`m_{15}(B)=0.80\pm 0.03`$. Similar Monte Carlo simulations were performed on the V, R and I lightcurves, the results of which are summarized in Table 3. Using $`z=0.038`$ and assuming $`H_o=65`$ km/s/Mpc, we derive the absolute magnitudes of $`M_B=19.48\pm 0.11`$, $`M_V=19.52\pm 0.11`$, $`M_R=19.52\pm 0.11`$, and $`M_I=19.04\pm 0.12`$, correcting only for Galactic extinction in the direction of SN 1999aw using values of $`A_B=0.14`$, $`A_V=0.11`$, $`A_R=0.09`$, and $`A_I=0.06`$ (Schlegel, Finkbeiner, & Davis 1998).

### 4.2 Infrared Photometry

Infrared imaging of SN 1999aw was obtained over a 50-day period, beginning at the epoch of B maximum, using the Swope 1-meter and duPont 2.5-meter telescopes at Las Campanas Observatory (LCO), and using the VLT at European Southern Observatory. These data were taken in the Js, H, and Ks bandpasses666Subscript ‘s’ is used to denote the modified filters used by Persson et al. (1998)..

The LCO infrared images were reduced with IRAF using standard techniques. Briefly, the steps consisted of 1) application of a correction for the slightly non-linear response of the NICMOS detector, 2) subtraction of dark images of the same exposure time as the supernova images, 3) division by a twilight flat field, 4) subtraction from each individual exposure of a sky image created from the dithered images of the supernova, and 5) shifting and summing the individual images to create a final “mosaic” image of the supernova field. DAOPHOT II was used to obtain PSF photometry, construct growth curves, and to set up local standards using observations on photometric nights of the Persson et al. (1998) standard stars. As the Persson et al. standards were established using the same instrument/detector/filters employed for the Swope telescope observations of SN 1999aw, no color corrections were applied to the supernova magnitudes. The duPont IRC observations are probably also very nearly on the same system, but this may not be the case for the duPont CIRSI and VLT data. It has been noticed that although the VLT/ISAAC transmission curves are fairly similar to the LCO filters in H and Ks, the Js filter is significantly narrower and therefore the Js-band observations can be quite different from the LCO system. We hope to eventually derive appropriate transformations for the latter data to the Persson et al. photometric system; in the absence of such information, no color corrections for these data are made in the present paper.

Table 4 lists the local standard star photometry (using the same numbering system as in the optical), Table 5 contains the epochs of observation of SN 1999aw with photometric errors, and Figure 6 shows the resulting infrared light curves.

### 4.3 K-Corrections and Time Dilation

At $`z=0.038`$, the redshift of SN 1999aw is large enough that it is important to correct the flux received in a given filter to that which would have been received if the event occurred at nearly zero redshift. If spectroscopic data were available for each epoch a direct image was obtained, corrections could be made to the flux received in each passband, or K-corrections, by determining the change in brightness in the transmission curves of those passbands as the spectra are shifted from the observed reference frame to the rest frame. Corrections would be applied as $`m(z=0,\tau )=m(z,\tau )K(z,\tau )`$, where $`\tau `$ is the epoch from maximum light. As this extensive spectral data is unavailable, we employ a method similar to that of Nugent et al. (2002, in prep). Here several epochs of spectra for SN 1999aw spanning the optical regime were used to produce the K-correction by manipulating the spectral energy distribution, producing synthetic photometry on a particular date to match the corresponding observed colors of SN 1999aw. We interpolate and extrapolate these few K-terms to derive K-terms for all epochs of photometric observation. The uncertainties from this method, based on the photometric data and the associated uncertainties for SN 1999aw, are less than 0.02 magnitudes for a given epoch.

In at least B and V, the K-terms are in good agreement with the values produced in a pure application of the method of Nugent et al. (2002), and with the values tabulated in Hamuy et al. (1993) for a SN Ia at $`z=0.04`$. However, in I there is a significant difference from yet unpublished K-terms determined from other nearby SNe Ia. This difference is caused by the delay (or “stretch”) in the I-band lightcurve of SN 1999aw, which is consistent with a possible trend among bright slow-declining 1991T/1999aa-like SNe Ia in which the IJHK lightcurves evolve at a slower rate than other SNe Ia (see Section 5.2). This difference in photometric (and plausibly spectroscopic) evolution exemplifies the danger in applying K-corrections calculated from SNe Ia with radically different decline rates.

Applying the derived K-corrections to the photometric data for SN 1999aw, and correcting the observed passage of time by a factor of $`(1+z)^1`$ for time dilation, produced a rest frame apparent magnitude lightcurve that was not that different from the observed lightcurve, with $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`m_{15}(B)=0.81\pm 0.03`$. We have not attempted to make K-corrections for the near-IR data because we do not have IR spectra for SN 1999aw, nor are there yet sufficient libraries of IR spectra for other SNe Ia.

## 5 Analysis and Discussion

### 5.1 B-band Template Fits

The lightcurves of SN 1999aw are remarkable for how much slower they evolve compared to the template curves of a typical decline-rate SNe Ia (see Figure 6). This is evident not only in the slow initial decline rate of $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`m_{15}(B)=0.81`$ (the mean decline rate of SNe Ia is $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`m_{15}(B)1.1`$), but in the delay of the second maximum in I, Js, H, and Ks.

The B-band lightcurve is particularly interesting in that its “shape” is subtly different than that for typical SNe Ia. One parameter LWR relations such as the $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`m_{15}(B)`$ suggest that a B-band lightcurve template can be made to fit the B-band lightcurve of a SN by applying a time delaying “stretch” factor to the epochs of observation, and the related magnitude offset (Perlmutter et al. 1997). However, Strolger et al. (2000 & 2003a) show that B-band template lightcurves built from well-sampled spectroscopically normal SNe Ia fit poorly to the B-band lightcurves of 1991T/1999aa-like supernovae, even when stretched to fit the observed lightcurve in early epochs (By “normal”, we mean those those SNe Ia which displayed strong Si II$`\lambda 6355`$ absorption at least 5 days before B-band maximum).

The Strolger et al. (2000 & 2003a) analysis was conducted on a few SNe that were 1) spectroscopically identified at least 5 days before maximum light, and 2) frequently observed with well sampled B-band lightcurves from just prior to maximum light to around the $`+`$80 day epoch. The low-order mean difference between the template curve and the supernovae lightcurves from the beginning of the exponential phase (after the $`+`$25 day epoch) was determined for each supernova in the sample:

$$\delta _{ave}=\underset{+25}{\overset{+80}{}}\frac{m(t)m_T(t^{})}{N}$$
(1)
Observations made at some epoch, $`m(t)`$, were compared to the time stretched template curve, $`m_T(t^{})`$, and then averaged over the number of observations ($`N`$) from the $`+`$25 day to $`+`$80 day epochs.

Results of the analysis show that spectroscopically normal SNe Ia exhibit little to no difference from the template curve during the exponential phase, whereas 1991T/1999aa-like SNe Ia show a substantial overbrightness during this phase. The analysis, when performed on SN 1999aw, produced a result consistent with that of the 1991T/1999aa-like SNe.

Figure 7 shows four SNe spectroscopically similar to SNe 1991T and/or 1999aa (including SN 1999aw), along with the normal SNe Ia template, stretched in time to fit the lightcurves within the first 15 days past maximum light. The template does not fit well to the data past around the $`+25`$ day epoch, and the data are systematically brighter than the template from that epoch.

In the future, with more examples of 1991T/1999aa-like SNe, this analysis may lead to photometric method that, in addition to spectroscopy, indicate the possible 1991T/1999aa-like peculiarity of supernovae.

### 5.2 Color Curves

SNe Ia show a impressive uniformity in their intrinsic colors in late epochs after maximum light. As Lira (1995) and Riess et al. (1996) independently showed, SNe Ia with $`0.85`$$`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`m_{15}(B)`$$`1.90`$ and little or no reddening from their host galaxies have very uniform $`BV`$ color evolution from $`+`$30 to $`+`$90 days after maximum light. Krisciunas et al. (2000) also observe uniformity in the V$``$Near IR color evolution of spectroscopically normal SNe Ia with mid-range decline rates from $``$9 days to $`+`$27 days past maximum light.

Figure 8 shows the evolution in multiple colors of SN 1999aw, corrected for Galactic reddening assuming an excess of $`E(BV)=0.032`$ (Schlegel, Finkerbeiner, & Davis 1998). The left-hand side panels of Figure 8 show the optical color evolution, along with some example SNe (zero-reddening corrected) for comparison. The solid line in the plot of the evolution of $`BV`$ in this figure represents the zero-reddening least-squares fit derived by Lira (1995). SN 1992al is included to show the evolution of a typical SNe Ia, while SN 1992bc is a slow-declining SNe Ia ($`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`m_{15}(B)=0.87`$) but with normal pre-maximum light spectra. SNe 1991T and 1999aa, the prototypical 1991T/1999aa-like SNe, have color evolutions nearly parallel to the Lira (1995) line, thus showing that the uniformity holds for some spectroscopically extreme SNe Ia.

This color uniformity has proven useful as an indicator of host galaxy reddening, which has been important to revising the LWR relations (Phillips et al. 1999). We have used the recipes in Phillips et al. (1999) to determine the host galaxy reddening for SN 1999aw. The analysis gave $`E(BV)_{tail}=0.20\pm 0.05`$, $`E(BV)_{max}=0.12\pm 0.10`$, and $`E(VI)_{max}=0.11\pm 0.09`$, which when averaged, resulted in a negative color excess, implying zero host galaxy reddening. Clearly the negative value of $`E(BV)_{tail}`$ is heavily influenced by the anomalous $`BV`$ color evolution of SN 1999aw; specifically, for most of the period from $`+`$40 days to $`+`$60 days SN 1999aw was considerably bluer than the Lira (1995) zero-reddening fit, and perhaps evolving with a steeper slope.

As SN 1999aw was spectroscopically similar to SN 1999aa, we might have expected that its color evolution would be similar to SN 1999aa and/or SN 1991T, both of which appeared generally bluer than SN 1992bc in $`VR`$ and $`VI`$. In SN 1999aw, the bluer $`VR`$ and $`VI`$ evolution were caused by the delay in the appearance of the second lightcurve maximum, which was more clearly seen in redder passbands (see Figure 6), and therefore is accentuated in the $`VR`$ and $`VI`$ curves. SN 1999aw also appeared bluer than SN 1999aa and SN 1991T in $`VR`$ and $`VI`$, which perhaps was an effect of SN 1999aw having a much slower decline rate than both SN 1999aa and SN 1991T.

The $`VJ_s`$ and $`VH`$ curves for SN 1999aw are also considerably bluer than the zero-reddening fits from Krisciunas et al. (2000) in the period after $`+`$10 days (right-hand side panels of Figure 8). The trend in the period prior to $`+`$10 days in the $`VJ_s`$ curve also seems to be different than the fit from Krisciunas et al. It appears that one could apply a “stretch” to the Krisciunas lines to force them to fit the SN 1999aw data, that is to say there is an apparent delay in the $`VJ_s`$ evolution. This again is due to the apparent delay of the second maximum in the I, Js, H, and Ks lightcurves. Note, however, that the $`VJ_s`$, $`VH`$, and $`VK_s`$ colors in this figure may change somewhat once K-corrections for the IR bandpasses become available.

### 5.3 Bolometric lightcurve, Maximum Luminosity, and 56Ni Mass Estimate.

As nearly all of the bolometric luminosity of a typical Type Ia supernova is emitted in the range of 3000 to 10000Å (Suntzeff 1996), the integrated flux in the UBVRIJsHKs bandpasses provides a reliable and meaningful estimate of the bolometric luminosity, which is directly dependent on the amount of nickel produced in the explosion.

The BVRIJsHKs data were used to calculate “uvoir” bolometric fluxes using the techniques described in Suntzeff (1996) and Suntzeff and Bouchet (1990). A table of UBVRIJsHKs data was made by linearly interpolating the JsHKs data to the optical dates. For some of the missing optical and Js and H data, we added photometry based on spline fitting of the data to the date of the missing data. We have added on U data because the optical ultraviolet adds significant flux to the early time bolometric light curve. There is little high-quality U data for Type Ia supernovae due to the generally poor ultraviolet sensitivity of the present generation of CCDs. We have instead relied on $`UB`$ photometry from photoelectric measurements. For dates past $`+`$9 days from B maximum, we have used the $`UB`$ data of SN 1972E from Lee et al. (1972) and Ardeberg & de Groot (1973). For dates before $`+`$9 days from B maximum we have used the $`UB`$ data for SN 1980N from Hamuy et al. (1991), and for SN 1981B compiled by Cadonau & Leibundgut (1990). The $`UB`$ for these supernovae were corrected to the reddening of SN 1999aw using the reddening values in Phillips et al. (1999) and a value of $`E(UB)/E(BV)=0.72`$ from Cardelli et al. (1989). The U photometry of SN 1999aw was then estimated from spline fits to the $`UB`$ data of these supernovae combined with our B data of SN 1999aw.

We then converted the broadband magnitudes to equivalent monochromatic fluxes at the effective wavelengths of Vega (Bessell 1979, 1990; Bessell & Brett 1988). A magnitude scale of $`(U,B,V,R,I)=0.03`$ and $`(J,H,K)=0.0`$ was used for Vega. The monochromatic fluxes were then scaled to the magnitude of the supernova, dereddened by $`E(BV)=0.032`$ using the reddening law of Cohen et al. (1981), and corrected to intrinsic fluxes using a distance modulus of 36.28 based on a Hubble flow with a Hubble constant of 63.3 km/s/Mpc (Phillips et al. 1999). These fluxes were then integrated using a simple trapezoidal integration. We added on a Rayleigh-Jeans extrapolation to zero frequency to the reddest flux point. We extrapolated to the ultraviolet by adding a flux point at 3000Å with zero flux.

We correct the derived bolometric lightcurves for time dilation effects, and plot them in Figure 9. The UBVRI and the UBVRIJsHKs integrations track each other well, except that the inflection points around days 20-45 are more pronounced in the UBVRIJsHKs integrations. Similar inflection points were noted by Suntzeff (1996) and are indicative of significant flux redistributions which may be related to rapid changes in the wavelength dependence of the opacities (Pinto & Eastman 2000 a & b). The peak bolometric luminosity is about $`L_{bol}=1.51\times 10^{43}`$ erg s-1.

It is fairly straightforward to derive the nickel mass produced in the explosion from the bolometric luminosity at peak. At maximum light, photons escape the surface at a rate which is equal to the radioactive energy input produced primarily by the 56Ni decay, and thus it is also related to the 56Ni synthesized in the explosion (Arnett 1982, Nugent et al. 1995b, Pinto & Eastman 2000a).

Contardo et al. (2000) calculate the luminosity and nickel mass for several SNe Ia from UBVRI bolometric peak fluxes. Using the same method, and assuming a rise time of 17 days to bolometric peak for consistency with Contardo, et al., we derive an initial nickel mass of $`M_{Ni}=0.76M_{}`$ for SN 1999aw. This is brighter and more nickel massive than many of the normal Type Ia SNe discussed in Contardo, et al., and it is comparable in brightness and nickel mass to SN 1991T (see Table 6). However as they note, a number of the SNe Ia in their study do not have U-band data available at peak, and therefore they have developed a correction curve based on data from the very well-sampled SN 1994D. Although this SN was spectroscopically normal, it did have some rather unusual features, including an unusually blue $`UB`$ color at maximum light. Additionally, Riess et al. (1999) have shown that the characteristic rise time of SNe Ia is $`19.5\pm 0.2`$ days, and that brighter and slower declining SNe Ia have longer rise times. For the peak magnitude and decline rate observed in SN 1999aw, we expected a rise time of $`20`$ days. Using this value, we derive an alternative initial nickel mass of $`M_{Ni}=1.07M_{}`$.

There are a number of additional uncertainties in both the calculated luminosity, and the derived nickel mass. The first is the assumption that more than 80% of the true bolometric light is emitted in the optical regime, that less than 10% can be expected in the UV below 3200Å, and that no more than 10% (in early epochs) from JHK (Suntzeff 1996, Elias et al. 1985, Contardo et al. 2000). In comparing our derived UBVRIJsHKs and UBVRI bolometric fluxes, we find the IR contribution to be only a few percent ($`1\%`$ at early epochs, $`5\%`$ after 35 days past $`B_{max}`$). We have not accounted for the space ultraviolet flux.

Also, as we will discuss further in Section 6, we do not have much information about the host galaxy of SN 1999aw. Although we have compensated for extinction and reddening due to our own galaxy, it difficult to do the same for the host galaxy. However, as the $`BV`$ color of SN 1999aw is nearly zero at maximum light, as it would be for an unreddened Type Ia SN (Phillips et al. 1999; Garnavich et al. 2001, in Figure 15), we have assumed that the extinction due to the host must be negligibly small.

## 6 The Host Galaxy of SN 1999aw

Another approach to understanding SN 1999aw can be to investigate its host galaxy. The metallicity of the progenitor may be related to the environment of the event (Hamuy et al. 1995). However, the apparent low luminosity of the galaxy has made it very difficult to study. As earlier stated, there was no obvious host galaxy in the template images nor in subsequent photometry. On UT 2000 Feb. 12, L. Strolger, P. Candia, J. Seguel, and A. Bonacic777Seguel and Bonacic participated in the 2000 Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) and Práctica de Investigatíon en Astronomía (PIA) program at CTIO. obtained deep images of the SN 1999aw field using the CTIO 1.5-meter telescope. Pairs of long exposures were taken in the same standard BVRI filters as were used in the photometry of SN 1999aw (The combined exposure times were 1200 seconds for B, V, and I, and 1440 for R). Zero points in each filter were found by comparison of standards fields taken on the same evening, with tabulated standard magnitudes. No clear detection (to a 3-$`\sigma `$ level) was made of a galaxy at or near the position of SN 1999aw in these deep images (see Figure 10).

A second attempt to detect the host was made on UT 2001 Mar. 17 by A. Szentgyorgyi, and on UT 2001 Mar. 18 by M. Mateo, A. Athey, and K. von Braun, both using the Baade 6.5-meter telescope at Las Campanas Observatory and the Magellan Imaging camera (MagIC). They obtained deep exposures for a combined 1600 sec in B, 1400 sec in V, and 900 sec in I of the SN 1999aw field. These deep images did reveal a resolved galaxy, with FWHM of 0.6″, only slightly broader than the seeing (0.42″). The central brightness (within 1.5″ radii) were $`B=24.2\pm 0.2`$, $`V=23.8\pm 0.2`$, and $`I=24.1\pm 0.9`$ magnitudes. The radial growth curve for the galaxy was very steep in all passbands, and heavily contaminated by background noise in the image. Therefore, we assume the 1.5″ magnitudes are the best estimates of the total light in the galaxy. Absolute values of $`M(B)_T=12.2\pm 0.2`$, $`M(V)_T=12.5\pm 0.2`$, and $`M(I)_T=12.2\pm 0.9`$ were calculated assuming $`H_o=65`$ km/s/Mpc and correcting only for Galactic extinction.

Coincidentally, the low luminosity dwarf galaxy IC 4182 hosted type Ia supernova SN 1937C, also with slow decline rate ($`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`m_{15}(B)=0.87`$). Although Branch et al. (1993) indicate that spectra from Minkowski (1939 & 1940) of SN 1937C seem to show a normal Type Ia SN, there may be some question as to whether or not the Si II$`\lambda `$6355 feature was relatively weak at early epochs, possibly indicating a similarity to SN 1999aa. Using the measured CCD photometry of IC 4182 from Makarova (1999), and the Cepheid distance modulus for the galaxy calculated by Saha, et al. (1994) and correcting for Galactic extinction, we determined its absolute magnitude to be $`M(B)_T=16.4\pm 0.02`$, $`M(V)_T=16.8\pm 0.2`$, and $`M(I)_T=17.6\pm 0.2`$. The SN 1999aw host galaxy is significantly fainter (by 4.2, 4.3, and 5.5 magnitudes in B, V, and I, respectively).

The error in these observations, especially in I, make it difficult to estimate color differences for the host galaxy, however, using the magnitudes above yields $`(BV)_o=0.31\pm 0.28`$ and $`(VI)_o=0.35\pm 0.92`$. Assuming $`(BV)_o`$ better exemplifies the color trend, the galaxy would appear to be fairly blue in comparison to dwarf galaxies in the local group (see Table 4 and Fig. 3 of Makarova 1999).

Initial studies of SNe Ia characteristics and their relation to their host galaxies have been conducted by Ivanov, Hamuy, & Pinto (2000) and Hamuy et al. (2000). Their studies show:

* The distribution of SNe Ia decline rates (and therefore brightness) changes considerably with host galaxy morphological type. Earlier Hubble type galaxies (such as ellipticals and S0 spirals) produce faint fast-declining SNe Ia, and late type galaxies (Sa$``$Irr) tend to produce bright slow-declining SNe Ia.
* SNe Ia decline rates also change with $`BV`$ color of the host galaxy. Bright SNe Ia occur more frequently in bluer environments.
* Bright SNe Ia occur more frequently in less luminous galaxies.

It is difficult, however, to determine how these color$``$luminosity correlations relate to age and metallicity effects. Integrated galaxy luminosities seem to correlate with metallicity (Henry & Worthy 1999), and both the sample of galaxies from Hamuy et al. (2000) and the sample of dwarf galaxies from Makarova (1999) seem to indicate that the least luminous galaxies are also the bluest. As bluer galaxies are also younger, perhaps the brightness distribution of SNe Ia with $`BV`$ color is an age effect, suggesting that younger environments produce bright slow-declining SNe Ia. Alternatively, it is plausible that the SNe Ia brightness$``$color correlation is just a reflection of the SNe Ia brightness$``$host galaxy luminosity trend, which may be a metallicity effect indicating that metal-poorer environments produce the brightest SNe Ia.

Nonetheless, observations of SN 1999aw and its host galaxy are consistent with these trends in that the host was faint and blue \[among the faintest 10% in $`M(B)`$, and the bluest 15% in $`(BV)`$ of the Makarova (1999) sample\], and that it produced a bright slow-declining SN Ia.

## 7 Summary

Our photometric and spectroscopic study of SN 1999aw indicate that SN 1999aw was probably a 1999aa-like event. The light curve decline rate is among the slowest observed at $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`m(B)_{15}=0.81\pm 0.03`$. At the redshift of $`z=0.038`$, it is also among the brightest Type Ia, with $`M_B=19.45\pm 0.11`$, $`M_V=19.50\pm 0.11`$, $`M_R=19.38\pm 0.11`$, and $`M_I=18.97\pm 0.12`$. Although luminous, these magnitudes are slightly less (by a few tenths of a magnitude) than one might expect from the trends of absolute magnitude versus decline rate or $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`m_{15}`$ (See Figure 11 of Krisciunas et al. 2001). Perhaps this suggests that there is some host galaxy extinction that needs to be accounted for. Or it is possible that SN 1999aw is simply slightly less luminous than expected, and therefore may be indicating a possible downward curve to the relations in Fig. 11 for the slowest-declining SNe Ia (similar to the downward curve recently determined by Garnavich et al. (2001) for fast-declining SN 1991bg-like SNe Ia).

It is thought that the brightness and decline rate of Type Ia are dependent on the metallicity of the progenitor, and additionally on the opacity in the atmosphere of the event (Hoflich et al. 1998, Pinto and Eastman 2000a & b, Mazzali et al. 2001). The derived luminosity of $`1.51\times 10^{43}`$ erg s-1, and 56Ni mass of $`0.76M_{}`$ for SN 1999aw are both relatively high, but are consistent with what can be expected for a SN Ia with the observed decline rate, as inferred from the trend between $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`m_{15}(B)`$ and 56Ni mass evident in Table 6.

The observations made at the Baade 6.5-meter have provided some very interesting information on the host galaxy of SN 1999aw. The derived absolute magnitudes seem to indicate that it is among the intrinsically faintest and bluest dwarf galaxies observed. This may indicate that the galaxy consists of either a young population of stars, or is a fairly metal-poor environment. It will be necessary to eventually obtain deeper images with large telescopes such as the Magellan 6.5-meter or the VLT to obtain sufficient signal-to-noise to put more accurate constraints on not only the colors of this galaxy, but its structure as well. The discovery of SN 1999aw exemplifies an advantage of magnitude limited field searches over galaxy-targeted searches. It is presently unclear how many supernova similar to SN 1999aw occur at low redshift, and with the biases associated with current targeted surveys we are less likely to detect them. As more magnitude limited field searches commence, relations between low luminosity (and probably low metallicity) galaxies and the supernova types that occur in them can be accurately determined. This will not only place constraints on Type Ia supernova progenitor models, but help to clarify the possibility of supernova “evolution” which may explain the difference in SN 1991T-like event rates between the low and high-$`z`$ surveys (Li et al. 2001).

This work is dedicated to the memory of Robert A. Schommer, whose contributions we valued, and whose friendship we will miss. LS is very grateful to Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory and its staff for providing a office, exceptional support, mentorship, and an unequivocal learning experience during his stay there from 1998 to 2000. Additional acknowledgements to B. Schaefer, C. Baiyln, and S. Tourtellotte for the use of YALO and YALO data, and to A. Block, M. Block, P. Challis, J. Krick, H. Mathis, and A. Soderberg for their assistance is searching through countless images in search of supernovae.

## Appendix A Photometric Transformation Equations

Optical aperture photometry was performed using the DAOPHOT II package (Stetson 1992). 14″ diameter apertures were used and were corrected by an iterative growth curve to a nearly infinite diameter. Standard fields were observed on 8 photometric nights on the CTIO 0.9-meter, and 7 photometric nights on the CTIO 1.5-meter. Caution was taken to observe fields at various airmasses in all filters. The data from 50 stars were compared to tabulated values (Landolt 1992) and solutions were found for the coefficients of the linear color and airmass terms in the photometric transformation equations (see Table A7 and A8). The equations were then used to transform the natural magnitudes of the local standard stars to standard magnitudes (see Table 1).