Searching for Type Ia Supernovae in Globular Clusters

Abstract

AbstractGlobular clusters are known to have enhanced populations of binaries with compact objects, owing to the dynamical interactions taking place in their dense stellar environments. Both the single degenerate and double degenerate Type Ia supernova progenitors are expected to be similarly enhanced with respect to the field, but the theoretical predictions are highly uncertain. Here we discuss an archival survey aimed at constraining the fraction of Type Ia supernovae that explode inside globular clusters.