THE INFRARED LIGHT CURVE OF SN 2011fe IN M101 AND THE DISTANCE TO M101

Matheson, T.; Joyce, R. R.; Allen, L. E.; Saha, A.; Silva, D. R.; Wood-Vasey, W. M.; Adams, J. J.; Anderson, R. E.; Beck, T. L.; Bentz, M. C.; Bershady, M. A.; Binkert, W. S.; Butler, K.; Camarata, M. A.; Eigenbrot, A.; Everett, M.; Gallagher, J. S.; Garnavich, P. M.; Glikman, E.; Harbeck, D.; Hargis, J. R.; Herbst, H.; Horch, E. P.; Howell, S. B.; Jha, S.; Kaczmarek, J. F.; Knezek, P.; Manne-Nicholas, E.; Mathieu, R. D.; Meixner, M.; Milliman, K.; Power, J.; Rajagopal, J.; Reetz, K.; Rhode, K. L.; Schechtman-Rook, A.; Schwamb, M. E.; Schweiker, H.; Simmons, B.; Simon, J. D.; Summers, D.; Young, M. D.; Weyant, A.; Wilcots, E. M.; Will, G.; Williams, D.
2012
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL
DOI
10.1088/0004-637X/754/1/19
We present near-infrared light curves of supernova (SN) 2011fe in M101, including 34 epochs in H band starting 14 days before maximum brightness in the B band. The light curve data were obtained with the WIYN High-Resolution Infrared Camera. When the data are calibrated using templates of other Type Ia SNe, we derive an apparent H-band magnitude at the epoch of B-band maximum of 10.85 +/- 0.04. This implies a distance modulus for M101 that ranges from 28.86 to 29.17 mag, depending on which absolute calibration for Type Ia SNe is used.