  UVOIR bolometric light curves provide valuable insight into the nature of
type Ia supernovae. We present an analysis of sixteen well-observed SNe Ia.
Constraints are placed on several global parameters concerning the progenitor
system, explosion mechanism and subsequent radiation transport. By fitting a
radioactive decay energy deposition function to the quasi-exponential phase (50
to 100 days after maximum light), it is found that the ejected mass varies by
at least a factor of two. This result suggests that a sub-Chandrasekhar mass
model could be responsible for the progenitor system of some type Ia
supernovae. We find that the range in the amount of synthesized (56)Ni
indicates a significant variation in the burning mechanism. In order to explain
a factor of ten range in the observed bolometric luminosity more detailed
modeling of the explosion mechanism is required.

Astrophysics