English

ZTF SN~Ia DR2: Cosmology-independent constraints on Type Ia supernova standardisation from supernova siblings

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics 2025-10-29 v1 High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Abstract

Understanding Type Ia supernovae (SNe~Ia) and the empirical standardisation relations that make them excellent distance indicators is vital to improving cosmological constraints. SN~Ia ``siblings", i.e. two or more SNe~Ia in the same host or parent galaxy offer a unique way to infer the standardisation relations and their diversity across the population. We analyse a sample of 25 SN~Ia pairs, observed homogeneously by the Zwicky Transient Factory (ZTF) to infer the SNe~Ia light curve width-luminosity and colour-luminosity parameters α\alpha and β\beta. Using the pairwise constraints from siblings, allowing for a diversity in the standardisation relations, we find α=0.218±0.055\alpha = 0.218 \pm 0.055 and β=3.084±0.312\beta = 3.084 \pm 0.312, respectively, with a dispersion in α\alpha and β\beta of 0.195\leq 0.195 and 0.923\leq 0.923, respectively, at 95%\% C.L. While the median dispersion is large, the values within 1σ\sim 1 \sigma are consistent with no dispersion. Hence, fitting for a single global standardisation relation, we find α=0.228±0.029\alpha = 0.228 \pm 0.029 and β=3.160±0.191\beta = 3.160 \pm 0.191. We find a very small intrinsic scatter of the siblings sample σint0.10\sigma_{\rm int} \leq 0.10 at 95\% C.L. compared to σint=0.22±0.04\sigma_{\rm int} = 0.22 \pm 0.04 when computing the scatter using the Hubble residuals without comparing them as siblings. Splitting the sample based on host galaxy stellar mass, we find that SNe~Ia in both subsamples have consistent α\alpha and β\beta. The β\beta value is consistent with the value for the cosmological sample. However, we find a higher α\alpha by 2.53.5σ\sim 2.5 - 3.5 \sigma. The high α\alpha is driven by low x1x_1 pairs, potentially suggesting that the slow and fast declining SN~Ia have different slopes of the width-luminosity relation. We can confirm or refute this with increased statistics from near future time-domain surveys. (abridged)

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2406.01434,
  title  = {ZTF SN~Ia DR2: Cosmology-independent constraints on Type Ia supernova standardisation from supernova siblings},
  author = {S. Dhawan and E. Mortsell and J. Johansson and A. Goobar and M. Rigault and M. Smith and K. Maguire and J. Nordin and G. Dimitriadis and P. E. Nugent and L. Galbany and J. Sollerman and T. de Jaeger and J. H. Terwel and Y. -L. Kim and Umut Burgaz and G. Helou and J. Purdum and S. L. Groom and R. Laher and B. Healy},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2406.01434},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

12 pages, 7 figures, submitted to A&A