On Measuring the Metallicity of a Type Ia Supernova’s Progenitor

In Type Ia Supernovae (SNe Ia) the relative abundances of chemical elements are affected by the neutron excess in the composition of the progenitor white dwarf. Since these products leave signatures in the spectra near maximum light, spectral features may be used to constrain the composition of the progenitor. We calculate the nucleosynthetic yields for three SN Ia simulations, assuming single degenerate, Chandrasekhar-mass progenitors, for a wide range of progenitor metallicities, and calculate synthetic light curves and spectra to explore correlations between progenitor metallicity and the strength of spectral features. We use two two-dimensional simulations of the deflagration-detonation-transition scenario with different ⁵⁶Ni yields and the W7 simulation to control for differences between explosion models and total yields. While the overall yields of intermediate-mass elements (16 < A ≤slant 40) differ between the three cases, trends in the yields are similar. With increasing metallicity, ²⁸Si yields remain nearly constant, ⁴⁰Ca yields decline, and Ti and ⁵⁴Fe yields increase. In the synthetic spectra, we identify two features at 30 days post-explosion that appear to deepen with progenitor metallicity: a Ti feature around 4200 Å and an Fe feature around 5200 Å. In all three simulations, their pseudo equivalent widths show a systematic trend with progenitor metallicity. This suggests that these two features may allow for differentiation among progenitor metallicities of observed SNe Ia and potentially help to reduce the intrinsic Hubble scatter.