Low-luminosity Type IIP Supernovae from the Zwicky Transient Facility Census of the Local Universe. I. Luminosity Function, Volumetric Rate

We present the luminosity function and volumetric rate of a sample of Type IIP supernovae (SNe) from the Zwicky Transient Facility Census of the Local Universe survey (CLU). This is the largest sample of Type IIP SNe from a systematic volume-limited survey to-date. The final sample includes 330 Type IIP SNe and 36 low-luminosity Type II (LLIIP) SNe with Mr,peak > −16 mag, which triples the literature sample of LLIIP SNe. The fraction of LLIIP SNe is 19−4+3% of the total CLU Type IIP SNe population ( 8−2+1% of all core-collapse SNe). This implies that while LLIIP SNe likely represent the fate of core-collapse SNe of 8–12 M⊙ progenitors, they alone cannot account for the fate of all massive stars in this mass range. To derive an absolute rate, we estimate the ZTF pipeline efficiency as a function of the apparent magnitude and the local surface brightness. We derive a volumetric rate of (3.9−0.4+0.4)×104Gpc−3yr−1 for Type IIP SNe and (7.3−0.6+0.6)×103Gpc−3yr−1 for LLIIP SNe. Now that the rate of LLIIP SNe is robustly derived, the unresolved discrepancy between core-collapse SN rates and star formation rates cannot be explained by LLIIP SNe alone.

• Publication year

  2025

• Venue

  Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific

• Publication date

  2025-02-26

• Fields of study

  Not labeled

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1088/1538-3873/adcaebarXiv 2502.19493
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• SN 2018is: A low-luminosity Type IIP supernova with narrow hydrogen emission lines at early phases

  2025cited by this paper
• SN 2023zaw: An Ultrastripped, Nickel-poor Supernova from a Low-mass Progenitor

  2024cited by this paper
• Investigating the Electron-capture Supernova Candidate AT 2019abn with JWST Spectroscopy

  2024cited by this paper
• Physical Correlations and Predictions Emerging from Modern Core-collapse Supernova Theory

  2024cited by this paper
• A study in scarlet. I. Photometric properties of a sample of intermediate-luminosity red transients

  2024cited by this paper
• SN 2021wvw: A Core-collapse Supernova at the Subluminous, Slower, and Shorter End of Type IIPs

  2024cited by this paper
• SN 2023zaw: The Low-energy Explosion of an Ultrastripped Star

  2024cited by this paper
• A Data Science Platform to Enable Time-domain Astronomy

  2023cited by this paper
• Identifying the SN 2022acko progenitor with JWST

  2023cited by this paper
• Evidence of Weak Circumstellar Medium Interaction in the Type II SN 2023axu

  2023cited by this paper
• Probing Presupernova Mass Loss in Double-peaked Type Ibc Supernovae from the Zwicky Transient Facility

  2023cited by this paper
• SN 2022acko: The First Early Far-ultraviolet Spectra of a Type IIP Supernova

  2023cited by this paper
• Prediction of Planet Yields by the PRime-focus Infrared Microlensing Experiment Microlensing Survey

  2023cited by this paper
• Low-luminosity type IIP supernovae: SN 2005cs and SN 2020cxd as very low-energy iron core-collapse explosions

  2022cited by this paper
• New Modules for the SEDMachine to Remove Contaminations from Cosmic Rays and Non-target Light: byecr and contsep

  2022cited by this paper
• Volumetric Rates of Luminous Red Novae and Intermediate-luminosity Red Transients with the Zwicky Transient Facility

  2022cited by this paper
• Probing the Low-mass End of Core-collapse Supernovae Using a Sample of Strongly-stripped Calcium-rich Type IIb Supernovae from the Zwicky Transient Facility

  2022cited by this paper
• Luminosity distribution of Type II supernova progenitors

  2022cited by this paper
• The Circumstellar Environments of Double-peaked, Calcium-strong Transients 2021gno and 2021inl

  2022cited by this paper
• Low luminosity Type II supernovae - IV. SN 2020cxd and SN 2021aai, at the edges of the sub–luminous supernovae class

  2022cited by this paper
• A Search for Extragalactic Fast Blue Optical Transients in ZTF and the Rate of AT2018cow-like Transients

  2021cited by this paper
• On the Energy Source of Ultrastripped Supernovae

  2021cited by this paper
• The Type Icn SN 2021csp: Implications for the Origins of the Fastest Supernovae and the Fates of Wolf–Rayet Stars

  2021influential reference
• Intermediate-luminosity red transients: Spectrophotometric properties and connection to electron-capture supernova explosions

  2021cited by this paper
• A low-energy explosion yields the underluminous Type IIP SN 2020cxd

  2021cited by this paper
• DBSP_DRP: A Python package for automated spectroscopic data reduction of DBSP data

  2021cited by this paper
• A Spitzer survey for dust-obscured supernovae

  2021cited by this paper
• Three-dimensional Core-collapse Supernova Simulations with 160 Isotopic Species Evolved to Shock Breakout

  2021cited by this paper
• The iron yield of normal Type II supernovae

  2021cited by this paper
• Synthetic observables for electron-capture supernovae and low-mass core collapse supernovae

  2021cited by this paper
• Connecting the Light Curves of Type IIP Supernovae to the Properties of Their Progenitors

  2021cited by this paper
• PypeIt: The Python Spectroscopic Data Reduction Pipeline

  2020cited by this paper
• Wide-field dynamic astronomy in the near-infrared with Palomar Gattini-IR and DREAMS

  2020cited by this paper
• The Zwicky Transient Facility Census of the Local Universe. I. Systematic Search for Calcium-rich Gap Transients Reveals Three Related Spectroscopic Subclasses

  2020cited by this paper
• The low-luminosity Type II SN 2016aqf: a well-monitored spectral evolution of the Ni/Fe abundance ratio

  2020cited by this paper
• A low-luminosity core-collapse supernova very similar to SN 2005cs

  2020cited by this paper
• Core-collapse supernova explosion theory

  2020cited by this paper
• Three-dimensional models of core-collapse supernovae from low-mass progenitors with implications for Crab

  2020cited by this paper
• The wide-field infrared transient explorer (WINTER)

  2020cited by this paper
• Effect of binary evolution on the inferred initial and final core masses of hydrogen-rich, Type II supernova progenitors

  2020cited by this paper
• Low-luminosity Type II supernovae – III. SN 2018hwm, a faint event with an unusually long plateau

  2020cited by this paper
• Hydrodynamic Simulations of Pre-supernova Outbursts in Red Supergiants: Asphericity and Mass Loss

  2020cited by this paper
• Discovery of an Intermediate-luminosity Red Transient in M51 and Its Likely Dust-obscured, Infrared-variable Progenitor

  2019influential reference
• Fully automated integral field spectrograph pipeline for the SEDMachine: pysedm

  2019cited by this paper
• The SPIRITS Sample of Luminous Infrared Transients: Uncovering Hidden Supernovae and Dusty Stellar Outbursts in Nearby Galaxies

  2019influential reference
• Fully Automated Reduction of Longslit Spectroscopy with the Low Resolution Imaging Spectrometer at the Keck Observatory

  2019cited by this paper
• The GROWTH Marshal: A Dynamic Science Portal for Time-domain Astronomy

  2019cited by this paper
• Three-dimensional supernova explosion simulations of 9-, 10-, 11-, 12-, and 13-M⊙ stars

  2019cited by this paper
• The Zwicky Transient Facility: Science Objectives

  2019cited by this paper
• SkyPortal: An Astronomical Data Platform

  2019cited by this paper
• The diverse lives of progenitors of hydrogen-rich core-collapse supernovae: the role of binary interaction

  2019cited by this paper
• Supernova lightCURVE POPulation Synthesis II: Validation against supernovae with an observed progenitor

  2019cited by this paper
• The Zwicky Transient Facility Bright Transient Survey. I. Spectroscopic Classification and the Redshift Completeness of Local Galaxy Catalogs

  2019influential reference
• The Zwicky Transient Facility: System Overview, Performance, and First Results

  2018cited by this paper
• Observed Type II supernova colours from the Carnegie Supernova Project-I

  2018cited by this paper
• The Zwicky Transient Facility: Data Processing, Products, and Archive

  2018cited by this paper
• A progenitor candidate for the type II-P supernova SN 2018aoq in NGC 4151

  2018cited by this paper
• The Carnegie Supernova Project I. Methods to estimate host-galaxy reddening of stripped-envelope supernovae

  2017cited by this paper
• Emission line models for the lowest mass core-collapse supernovae - I. Case study of a 9 M ☉ one-dimensional neutrino-driven explosion

  2017cited by this paper
• Census of the Local Universe (CLU) Narrowband Survey. I. Galaxy Catalogs from Preliminary Fields

  2017influential reference
• The SED Machine: A Robotic Spectrograph for Fast Transient Classification

  2017cited by this paper
• Radiation-hydrodynamical modelling of underluminous Type II plateau supernovae

  2016cited by this paper
• A study of the low-luminosity Type II-Plateau supernova 2008bk

  2016cited by this paper
• pyraf-dbsp: Reduction pipeline for the Palomar Double Beam Spectrograph

  2016cited by this paper
• Light-curve and spectral properties of ultrastripped core-collapse supernovae leading to binary neutron stars

  2016cited by this paper
• The Status of Multi-Dimensional Core-Collapse Supernova Models

  2016cited by this paper
• Supernova rates from the SUDARE VST-Omegacam search. I

  2015cited by this paper
• Observational Constraints on the Progenitors of Core-Collapse Supernovae: The Case for Missing High-Mass Stars

  2015cited by this paper
• Almost gone: SN 2008S and NGC 300 2008OT-1 are fainter than their progenitors

  2015cited by this paper
• Core-Collapse Supernova Rate Synthesis Within 11 Mpc

  2015cited by this paper
• The Zwicky Transient Facility: Observing System

  2014cited by this paper
• Low luminosity Type II supernovae - II. Pointing towards moderate mass precursors

  2014cited by this paper
• SPRAT: Spectrograph for the Rapid Acquisition of Transients

  2014cited by this paper
• On the progenitor of the Type IIP SN 2013ej in M74.

  2013cited by this paper
• Comparison of progenitor mass estimates for the type IIP SN 2012A

  2013cited by this paper
• A late-time view of the progenitors of five Type IIP supernovae

  2013cited by this paper
• Supernova 2012ec: Identification of the progenitor and early monitoring with PESSTO

  2013cited by this paper
• Explosion Mechanisms of Core-Collapse Supernovae

  2012cited by this paper
• An empirical relation between sodium absorption and dust extinction

  2012cited by this paper
• Binary Interaction Dominates the Evolution of Massive Stars

  2012cited by this paper
• emcee: The MCMC Hammer

  2012cited by this paper
• A fully automated data reduction pipeline for the FRODOSpec integral field spectrograph

  2011cited by this paper
• A comparison between star formation rate diagnostics and rate of core collapse supernovae within 11 Mpc

  2011cited by this paper
• SN 2009md: another faint supernova from a low-mass progenitor

  2010cited by this paper
• Nearby Supernova Rates from the Lick Observatory Supernova Search. II. The Observed Luminosity Functions and Fractions of Supernovae in a Complete Sample

  2010cited by this paper
• SN 2008S: An electron-capture SN from a super-AGB progenitor?

  2009cited by this paper
• The Disappearance of the Progenitors of Supernovae 1993J and 2003gd

  2009cited by this paper
• On the nature of the progenitors of three Type II-P supernovae: 2004et, 2006my and 2006ov

  2009cited by this paper
• VLT Detection of a Red Supergiant Progenitor of the Type II-P Supernova 2008bk

  2008cited by this paper
• Determining the Type, Redshift, and Age of a Supernova Spectrum

  2006cited by this paper
• On the Normalization of the Cosmic Star Formation History

  2006cited by this paper
• Gemini Spectroscopy of Supernovae from the Supernova Legacy Survey: Improving High-Redshift Supernova Selection and Classification

  2005cited by this paper
• The progenitor of SN 2005cs in the Whirlpool Galaxy

  2005cited by this paper
• Identification of the Red Supergiant Progenitor of Supernova 2005cs: Do the Progenitors of Type II-P Supernovae Have Low Mass?

  2005cited by this paper
• Highlights of Spanish Astrophysics V

  2001cited by this paper
• The Peculiar Type II Supernova 1997D: A Case for a Very Low 56Ni Mass

  1998cited by this paper
• THE KECK LOW-RESOLUTION IMAGING SPECTROMETER

  1995cited by this paper
• The relationship between infrared, optical, and ultraviolet extinction

  1989cited by this paper
• Evolution of 8-10 solar mass stars toward electron capture supernovae. I - Formation of electron-degenerate O + NE + MG cores.

  1984cited by this paper
• AN EFFICIENT LOW RESOLUTION AND MODERATE RESOLUTION SPECTROGRAPH FOR THE HALE TELESCOPE

  1982cited by this paper

• Presupernova Eruptions Triggered by Sudden Energy Deposition in Low-mass Core-collapse Supernova Progenitors

  2026cites this paper
• Low-luminosity Type IIP Supernovae from the Zwicky Transient Facility Census of the Local Universe. II. Lightcurve Analysis

  2026influential citation
• Systematic Search for Electromagnetic Counterparts to the Binary Neutron Star Merger Candidate GW231109_235456

  2025cites this paper
• ZTF25abjmnps (AT2025ulz) and S250818k: A Candidate Superkilonova from a Subthreshold Subsolar Gravitational-wave Trigger

  2025influential citation
• Hydrogen-rich to stripped-envelope: observational continuity and biases in CCSNe

  2025cites this paper