Determination of a temporally and spatially resolved supernova rate from OB stars within 5 kpc

Abstract

AbstractWe spatially and temporally resolve the future Supernova (SN) rate in the Solar vicinity and the whole Galaxy by comparing observational parameters of massive stars with theoretical models for estimating age and mass and, hence, the remaining lifetime until the SN explosion. Our SN rate derived in time and space for the future (few Myr) should be the same as in the last few Myr by assuming a constant rate. From BVRIJHK photometry, parallax, spectral type, and luminosity class we compile a Hertzsprung‐Russell diagram (HRD) for 25027 massive stars and derive extinction, and luminosity, then mass, age, and remaining lifetime from evolutionary models. Within 600 pc our sample of SN progenitors and, hence, SN prediction, is complete, and all future SN events of our sample stars take place in 8 % of the area of the sky, whereas 90 % of the events take place in 7 % of the area of the sky. The current SN rate within 600 pc is increased by a factor of 5–6 compared with the Galactic rate. For a distance of 5 kpc our sample is incomplete, nevertheless 90 % of those SN events take place in only 12 % of the area of the projected sky. If the SN rate in the near future is the same as the recent past, there should be unknown young neutron stars concentrated in those areas. Our distribution can be used as input for constraints of gravitational waves detection and for neutron star searches. (© 2014 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)