English

A new magnitude--redshift relation based on Type Ia supernovae

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics 2026-05-13 v2 General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology

Abstract

We present a new empirical relation between the standardized magnitude (mm) of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) and redshift (zz). Using Pantheon+ and DES-SN5YR, we find a negative linear correlation between m5log(z(1+z))m-5\log(z(1+z)) and zz, implying that their magnitude--redshift relation can be parametrized with just two parameters: an intercept M\mathcal{M} and a slope bb. This relation corresponds to the luminosity distance dL(z)=cH01z(1+z)10bz/5d_L(z)=c\,H_0^{-1}z(1+z)10^{bz/5} and is valid up to at least z1.1z\simeq1.1. It outperforms the Λ\LambdaCDM and flat wwCDM models and the (2,1) Pad\'e approximant for dL(z)d_L(z), and performs comparably to the flat Λ\LambdaCDM model and the (2,1) Pad\'e(j0=1j_0=1) model of Hu et al. Furthermore, the relation is stable in the absence of low-zz SNe, making it suitable for fitting Hubble diagrams of SNe Ia without the need to add a low-zz sample. In deep fields in particular, assuming that the large-scale density is independent of the comoving radial coordinate, bq0+1b\propto q_0+1. We fit the empirical relation to SN data in eight deep-field regions and find that their fitted M\mathcal{M} and bb parameters are consistent within 1.6σ1.6\,\sigma, in agreement with isotropy. The inferred q0q_0 values, ranging from 0.6-0.6 to 0.4-0.4, are consistent within 1.5σ1.5\,\sigma and significantly lower than zero, indicating statistically consistent cosmic acceleration across all eight regions. We apply the empirical relation to the DES-Dovekie and Amalgame SN samples, finding bb values consistent with those from DES-SN5YR and Pantheon+. Finally, using the empirical relation in the hemispheric comparison method applied to Pantheon+ up to z=1.1z=1.1, we find no evidence for anisotropies in M\mathcal{M} and bb.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2601.08505,
  title  = {A new magnitude--redshift relation based on Type Ia supernovae},
  author = {Ósmar Rodríguez and Alejandro Clocchiatti},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.08505},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

11 pages, 9 figures, 8 tables. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics

R2 v1 2026-07-01T09:02:40.865Z