Abstract
Abstract We analyze a set of 89 type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) that have both optical and near-infrared (NIR) photometry to derive distances and construct low-redshift (z ≤ 0.04) Hubble diagrams. We construct mean light curve (LC) templates using a hierarchical Bayesian model. We explore both Gaussian process (GP) and template methods for fitting the LCs and estimating distances, while including peculiar-velocity and photometric uncertainties. For the 56 SNe Ia with both optical and NIR observations near maximum light, the GP method yields a NIR-only Hubble-diagram with a root mean square (rms) of mag when referenced to the NIR maxima. For each NIR band, a comparable GP method rms is obtained when referencing to NIR-max or B-max. Using NIR LC templates referenced to B-max yields a larger rms value of mag. Fitting the corresponding optical data using standard LC fitters that use LC shape and color corrections yields larger rms values of 0.179 ± 0.018 mag with SALT2 and mag with SNooPy. Applying our GP method to subsets of SNe Ia NIR LCs at NIR maximum light, even without corrections for LC shape, color, or host-galaxy dust reddening, provides smaller rms in the inferred distances, at the ∼2.3–4.1σ level, than standard optical methods that correct for those effects. Our ongoing RAISIN program on the Hubble Space Telescope will exploit this promising infrared approach to limit systematic errors when measuring the expansion history of the universe in order to constrain dark energy.
Highlights
The increasing sample of high quality, low-redshift, near-infrared (NIR) light curves (LCs) of Type Ia supernovae (SN Ia) provides an opportunity to further investigate their utility as cosmological standard candles
We analyze a set of 89 Type Ia supernovae (SN Ia) that have both optical and near-infrared (NIR) photometry to derive distances and construct low redshift (z ≤ 0.04) Hubble diagrams
Applying our Gaussian process (GP) method to subsets of SN Ia NIR LCs at NIR maximum light, even without corrections for LC shape, color, or host-galaxy dust reddening, provides smaller RMS in the inferred distances, at the ∼ 2.3-4.1σ level, than standard optical methods that do correct for those effects
Summary
The increasing sample of high quality, low-redshift (low-z), near-infrared (NIR) light curves (LCs) of Type Ia supernovae (SN Ia) provides an opportunity to further investigate their utility as cosmological standard candles. This paper explores ways to use NIR observations of SN Ia to measure distances. This investigation is for a low-z sample, but we are working to extend this technique to cosmologicallyinteresting distances with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The constraints on cosmological parameters from the SN Ia Pantheon sample (Scolnic et al 2018) combined with the Planck 2015/2018 Cosmic Microwave Background data (Planck Collaboration et al 2016b, 2018), as well as Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (Alam et al 2017) and local Hubble constant measurements (Riess et al 2016, 2018c,b,a) are consistent with this view. Among the major cosmological techniques, SN Ia provide precise measurements of extragalactic distances and the most direct evidence for cosmic acceleration (see Goobar & Leibundgut 2011; Kirshner 2013; Goobar 2015; Davis & Parkinson 2016; Riess et al 2018c for reviews)
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