2011ApJ...741...97D

We present detailed optical photometry for 25 Type Ibc supernovae (SNe Ibc) within d ~ 150 Mpc obtained with the robotic Palomar 60 inch telescope in 2004-2007. This study represents the first uniform, systematic, and statistical sample of multi-band SNe Ibc light curves available to date. We correct the light curves for host galaxy extinction using a new technique based on the photometric color evolution, namely, we show that the (V - R) color of extinction-corrected SNe Ibc at Δt ~ 10 days after V-band maximum is tightly distributed, ≲ (V - R)_V10> = 0.26±0.06 mag. Using this technique, we find that SNe Ibc typically suffer from significant host galaxy extinction, ≲ E(B - V)> ~ 0.4 mag. A comparison of the extinction-corrected light curves for helium-rich (Type Ib) and helium-poor (Type Ic) SNe reveals that they are statistically indistinguishable, both in luminosity and decline rate. We report peak absolute magnitudes of ≲ M_R > = -17.9±0.9 mag and ≲ M_R> = -18.3±0.6 mag for SNe Ib and Ic, respectively. Focusing on the broad-lined (BL) SNe Ic, we find that they are more luminous than the normal SNe Ibc sample, ≲ M_R> = -19.0 ± 1.1 mag, with a probability of only 1.6% that they are drawn from the same population of explosions. By comparing the peak absolute magnitudes of SNe Ic-BL with those inferred for local engine-driven explosions (GRB-SN 1998bw, XRF-SN 2006aj, and SN 2009bb) we find a 25% probability that relativistic SNe are drawn from the overall SNe Ic-BL population. Finally, we fit analytic models to the light curves to derive typical ⁵⁶Ni masses of M_Ni~ 0.2 and 0.5 M_☉ for SNe Ibc and SNe Ic-BL, respectively. With reasonable assumptions for the photospheric velocities, we further extract kinetic energy and ejecta mass values of M_ej~ 2 M_☉ and E_K~ 10⁵¹ erg for SNe Ibc, while for SNe Ic-BL we find higher values, M_ej ~ 5 M_☉ and E_K~ 10⁵² erg. We discuss the implications for the progenitors of SNe Ibc and their relation to those of engine-driven explosions.