UC Berkeley

We present a measurement of the volumetric rate of "calcium-rich" optical transients in the local universe, using a sample of three events from the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF). This measurement builds on a detailed study of the PTF transient detection efficiencies and uses a Monte Carlo simulation of the PTF survey. We measure the volumetric rate of calcium-rich transients to be higher than previous estimates: - 1.21+0.39 1.13 10-5 events yr-1Mpc-3. This is equivalent to 33%-94% of the local volumetric Type Ia supernova rate. This calcium-rich transient rate is sufficient to reproduce the observed calcium abundances in galaxy clusters, assuming an asymptotic calcium yield per calcium-rich event of .0.05 M. We also study the PTF detection efficiency of these transients as a function of position within their candidate host galaxies. We confirm as a real physical effect previous results that suggest that calcium-rich transients prefer large physical offsets from their host galaxies.