UV Emission in Type Ia Supernova Elliptical Host Galaxies

The current use of Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) as standard candles is to measure the dark energy equation-of-state to better than 10%. However, we still lack a clear understanding of their progenitor systems. We analyze the host galaxies of type Ia Supernova (SN Ia) discovered by the ESSENCE survey using UV and optical data, as studying the environments of SN Ia is a great way to understand the progenitors. We developed a new method for determining the SED and rest-frame magnitudes of the host galaxies and we use empirical relations to derive stellar mass and star-formation rate (SFR) measurements of the host galaxies. We find a high rate of UV emission in our passive galaxies, suggesting current star-formation in these galaxies.