Absolute light curves of type II supernovae

Abstract

A comparative study of the absolute blue light curves of Type II supernova (SN II's) shows that (1) SN II's with plateau light curves have a wide range in peak brightness (>~ 6 mag), owing to differences among the preexplosion radii of their progenitor stars; (2) SN II's with linear light curves are rather homogenous with respect to both peak absolute brightness and postpeak decline rate, and appear to be powered even at early times by the radioactive decay of ^56^Ni and ^56^Co; (3) low-luminosity SN II's with plateaus, such as SN 1987A, are more common in space than the observationally conspicuous bright SN II's that have been emphasized in the past.