Tests of the Accelerating Universe with Near-Infrared Observations of a High-Redshift Type IA Supernova
Spyromilio, J.; Filippenko, Alexei V.; Leibundgut, B.; Riess, Adam G.; Tonry, John; Dey, Arjun; Kirshner, Robert P.; Jha, Saurabh; Garnavich, Peter M.; Schmidt, Brian P.; Schommer, Robert A.; Phillips, M. M.; Challis, Peter; Clocchiatti, Alejandro; Smith, R. Chris; Suntzeff, Nicholas B.; Hogan, Craig J.; Liu, Michael C.; Brunner, Robert J.; Woudt, Patrick; Gal, Roy; Oppenheimer, Ben; Stubbs, Christopher; Larkin, James; Diercks, Alan; Reiss, David; Graham, James; Odewahn, Steve C.
United States, Chile, Germany, Australia
Abstract
We have measured the rest-frame B-, V-, and I-band light curves of a high-redshift type Ia supernova (SN Ia), SN 1999Q (z=0.46), using the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and ground-based near-infrared detectors. A goal of this study is the measurement of the color excess, EB-I, a sensitive indicator of interstellar or intergalactic dust, which could affect recent cosmological measurements from high-redshift SNe Ia. Our observations disfavor a 30% opacity of SN Ia visual light by dust as an alternative to an accelerating universe. This statement applies to both Galactic-type dust (rejected at the 3.4 σ confidence level) and grayer dust (grain size >0.1 μm, rejected at the 2.3-2.6 σ confidence level) as proposed by Aguirre. The rest-frame I-band light curve shows the secondary maximum 1 month after the B maximum typical of nearby SNe Ia of normal luminosity, providing no indication of evolution as a function of redshift out to z~0.5. An expanded set of similar observations could improve the constraints on any contribution of extragalactic dust to the dimming of high-redshift SNe Ia.