Core-collapse supernova rate synthesis within 11 Mpc

The 11 Mpc Hα and Ultraviolet Galaxy Survey (11HUGS) traces the star formation activity of nearby galaxies. In addition, within this volume the detection completeness of core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe) is high therefore by comparing these observed stellar births and deaths we can make a sensitive test of our understanding of how stars live and die. In this paper, we use the results of the Binary Population and Spectral Synthesis (bpass) code to simulate the 11HUGS galaxies’ Hα and far-ultraviolet (FUV) star formation rate indicators (SFRIs) and simultaneously match the CCSN rate. We find that stellar population including interacting binary stars makes little difference to the total CCSN rate but increases the Hα and FUV fluxes for a constant number of stars being formed. In addition, they significantly increase the predicted rate of Type Ibc SNe relative to Type II SNe to the level observed in the 11HUGS galaxies. We also find that instead of assuming a constant star formation history for the galaxies our best-fitting models have an SFR that peaked more than 3 Myr ago.