The core-collapse rate from the Supernova Legacy Survey

We use three years of data from the Supernova Legacy Survey (SNLS) to study the general properties of core-collapse and type Ia supernovae. This is the first such study using the rolling search technique which guarantees well-sampled SNLS light curves and good efficiency for supernovae brighter than i' similar to 24. Using host photometric redshifts, we measure the supernova absolute magnitude distribution down to luminosities 4.5 mag fainter than normal SNIa. Using spectroscopy and light-curve fitting to discriminate against SNIa, we find a sample of 117 core-collapse supernova candidates with redshifts z < 0.4 ( median redshift of 0.29) and measure their rate to be larger than the type Ia supernova rate by a factor 4.5 +/- 0.8(stat.) +/- 0.6(sys.). This corresponds to a core-collapse rate at z = 0.3 of [1.42 +/- 0.3(stat.) +/- 0.3(sys.)] x 10(-4) yr(-1)(h(70)(-1) Mpc)(-3).