Measuring the Hubble constant with Type Ia supernovae as near-infrared standard candles

Abstract

The most precise local measurements of H 0 rely on observations of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) coupled with Cepheid distances to SN Ia host galaxies. Recent results have shown tension comparing H 0 to the value inferred from CMB observations assuming ΛCDM, making it important to check for potential systematic uncertainties in either approach. To date, precise local H 0 measurements have used SN Ia distances based on optical photometry, with corrections for light curve shape and colour. Here, we analyse SNe Ia as standard candles in the near-infrared (NIR), where luminosity variations in the supernovae and extinction by dust are both reduced relative to the optical. From a combined fit to 9 nearby calibrator SNe with host Cepheid distances from Riess et al. (2016) and 27 SNe in the Hubble flow, we estimate the absolute peak J magnitude M J = −18.524 ± 0.041 mag and H 0 = 72.8 ± 1.6 (statistical) ± 2.7 (systematic) km s −1 Mpc −1 . The 2.2% statistical uncertainty demonstrates that the NIR provides a compelling avenue to measuring SN Ia distances, and for our sample the intrinsic (unmodeled) peak J magnitude scatter is just ∼0.10 mag, even without light curve shape or colour corrections. Our results do not vary significantly with different sample selection criteria, though photometric calibration in the NIR may be a dominant systematic uncertainty. Our findings suggest that tension in the competing H 0 distance ladders is likely not a result of supernova systematics that could be expected to vary between optical and NIR wavelengths, like dust extinction. We anticipate further improvements in H 0 with a larger calibrator sample of SNe Ia with Cepheid distances, more Hubble flow SNe Ia with NIR light curves, and better use of the full NIR photometric data set beyond simply the peak J-band magnitude.

Vacuum phase transition solves the H0 tension

“…[18][19][20][21] regarding local H 0 ), we found in [22] that the H 0 values could be consistent in a parameter space expanded to include further, not unreasonable, cosmological physics. In particular, altering the mechanism for cosmic acceleration from a cosmological constant to a particular form of dynamical dark energy would remove the tension.…”

Revisiting a Negative Cosmological Constant from Low-Redshift Data

“…The statistical significance of this discrepancy, currently at a level > ∼ 4σ, has steadily grown over recent year, owing also improvements in the distance ladder approach [32][33][34][35]. Additional (re)analyses of the local distance ladder [36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46], as well as independent estimates of H 0 from strong-lensing time delays [47][48][49] have independently supported the conclusion that local measurements favour a higher value of H 0 [8] (see, however, the study in [50]). Given that the Planck estimate of H 0 relies on the assumption of an underlying ΛCDM model, it is possible that the H 0 tension might be hinting towards new physics, possibly involving non-standard properties of dark matter or dark energy [51][52][53][54].…”

H0 tension and the string swampland

“…Far from it, when the sound horizon is calibrated using data from Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO) and the all-sky map from the temperature fluctuations on the cosmic microwave background (CMB), the inferred value of the Hubble constant within ΛCDM is H 0 = 67.4 ± 0.5 km s −1 Mpc −1 [8][9][10][11]. The discrepancy is significant at 4.4σ level [7,11], and systematic effects do not seem to be responsible for this inconsistency [12][13][14][15][16]; see however [17].…”