Near-infrared observations of Type Ia supernovae: the best known standard candle for cosmology
Year: 2012
Type: article
Abstract: We present an analysis of the Hubble diagram for 12 normal Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) observed in the near-infrared (NIR) J and H bands. We select SNe exclusively from the redshift range 0.03 < z < 0.09 to reduce uncertainties coming from peculiar velocities while remaining in a cosmologically well-understood region. All of the SNe in our sample exhibit no spectral or B-band light-curve peculiarities and lie in the B-band stretch range of 0.8–1.15. Our results suggest that SNe Ia observed in the NIR are the best known standard candles. We fit previously determined NIR light-curve templates to new high-precision data to derive peak magnitudes and to determine the scatter about the Hubble line. Photometry of the 12 SNe is presented in the natural system. Using a standard cosmology of (H0, Ωm, ΩΛ) = (70, 0.27, 0.73), we find a median J-band absolute magnitude of MJ = −18.39 with a scatter of σJ = 0.116 and a median H-band absolute magnitude of MH = −18.36 with a scatter of σH = 0.085. The scatter in the H band is the smallest yet measured. We search for correlations between residuals in the J- and H-band Hubble diagrams and SN properties, such as SN colour, B-band stretch and the projected distance from the centre of the host galaxy. The only significant correlation is between the J-band Hubble residual and the J − H pseudo-colour. We also examine how the scatter changes when fewer points in the NIR are used to constrain the light curve. With a single point in the H band taken anywhere from 10 d before to 15 d after B-band maximum light and a prior on the date of H-band maximum set from the date of B-band maximum, we find that we can measure distances to an accuracy of 6 per cent. The precision of SNe Ia in the NIR provides new opportunities for precision measurements of both the expansion history of the universe and peculiar velocities of nearby galaxies.
Authors: R. L. Barone-Nugent, C. Lidman, J. S. B. Wyithe, J. Mould, D. A. Howell, I. M. Hook, M. Sullivan, P. E. Nugent, I. Arcavi, S. B. Cenko, J. Cooke, A. Gal-Yam, E. Y. Hsiao, M. M. Kasliwal, K. Maguire, E. Ofek, D. Poznanski, D. Xu
Institutions: The University of Melbourne, Australian Astronomical Observatory, ARC Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics, Swinburne University of Technology, Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network, University of California, Santa Barbara, Astronomical Observatory of Rome, University of Oxford, National Institute for Astrophysics, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Weizmann Institute of Science, University of California, Berkeley, Carnegie Institution for Science, Carnegie Observatories, Tel Aviv University
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Awards: WE WILL CONTINUE TO CONDUCT BVRIZ OPTICAL PHOTOMETRY OF SWIFT GRBS WITH THE LICK O.76-M KATZMAN AUTOMATIC IMAGING TELESCOPE (KAIT) TO COMPLEMENT THE, Astrophysics at Oxford: 2010-2015, Extension to DBRHKF0 : Developing the UK Role in Extremely Large Telescopes, Nearby Supernovae: Discovery at Birth and Follow-up Studies
OpenAlex ID: W2147350665