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Abstract We present optical and near-infrared (NIR, Y - , J - , H- band) observations of 42 Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) discovered by the untargeted intermediate Palomar Transient Factory survey. This new data set covers a broad range of redshifts and host galaxy stellar masses, compared to previous SN Ia efforts in the NIR. We construct a sample, using also literature data at optical and NIR wavelengths, to examine claimed correlations between the host stellar masses and the Hubble diagram residuals. The SN magnitudes are corrected for host galaxy extinction using either a global total-to-selective extinction ratio, R V = 2.0, for all SNe, or a best-fit R V for each SN individually. Unlike previous studies that were based on a narrower range in host stellar mass, we do not find evidence for a “mass step,” between the color- and stretch-corrected peak J and H magnitudes for galaxies below and above log ( M * / M ⊙ ) = 10 . However, the mass step remains significant (3 σ ) at optical wavelengths ( g , r , i ) when using a global R V , but vanishes when each SN is corrected using their individual best-fit R V . Our study confirms the benefits of the NIR SN Ia distance estimates, as these are largely exempted from the empirical corrections dominating the systematic uncertainties in the optical. 

Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) in the nearby Hubble flow are excellent distance indicators in cosmology. The Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) has observed a large sample of SNe from an untargeted, rolling survey, reaching 20.8, 20.6, and 20.3 mag in g r, and i band, respectively. With an FoV of 47 deg2, ZTF discovered > 3000 SNe Ia in a little over 2.5 yr. Here, we report on the sample of 761 spectroscopically classified SNe Ia from the first year of operations (DR1). The sample has a median redshift $\bar{z} =$ 0.057, nearly a factor of 2 higher than the current low-z sample. Our sample has a total of 934 spectra, of which 632 were obtained with the robotic SEDm on Palomar P60. We assess the potential for precision cosmology for a total of 305 SNe with redshifts from host galaxy spectra. The sample is already comparable in size to the entire combined literature low-z anchor sample. The median first detection is 13.5 d before maximum light, about 10 d earlier than the median in the literature. Furthermore, six SNe from our sample are at DL < 80 Mpc, for which host galaxy distances can be obtained in the JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE era, such that we have calibrator and Hubble flow SNe observed with the same instrument. In the entire duration of ZTF-I, we have observed nearly 50 SNe for which we can obtain calibrator distances, key for per cent level distance scale measurements.

 

Context. We present observations of ZTF20aatqesi (SN 2020faa). This Type II supernova (SN) displays a luminous light curve (LC) that started to rebrighten from an initial decline. We investigate this in relation to the famous SN iPTF14hls, which received a great deal of attention and multiple interpretations in the literature, but whose nature and source of energy still remain unknown. Aims. We demonstrate the great similarity between SN 2020faa and iPTF14hls during the first 6 months, and use this comparison to forecast the evolution of SN 2020faa and to reflect on the less well observed early evolution of iPTF14hls. Methods. We present and analyse our observational data, consisting mainly of optical LCs from the Zwicky Transient Facility in the gri bands and of a sequence of optical spectra. We construct colour curves and a bolometric lc, and we compare ejecta-velocity and black-body radius evolutions for the two supernovae (SNe) and for more typical Type II SNe. Results. The LCs show a great similarity with those of iPTF14hls over the first 6 months in luminosity, timescale, and colour. In addition, the spectral evolution of SN 2020faa is that of a Type II SN, although it probes earlier epochs than those available for iPTF14hls. Conclusions. The similar LC behaviour is suggestive of SN 2020faa being a new iPTF14hls. We present these observations now to advocate follow-up observations, since most of the more striking evolution of SN iPTF14hls came later, with LC undulations and a spectacular longevity. On the other hand, for SN 2020faa we have better constraints on the explosion epoch than we had for iPTF14hls, and we have been able to spectroscopically monitor it from earlier phases than was done for the more famous sibling. 

Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are more precise standardizable candles when measured in the near-infrared (NIR) than in the optical. With this motivation, from 2012 to 2017 we embarked on the RAISIN program with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) to obtain rest-frame NIR light curves for a cosmologically distant sample of 37 SNe Ia (0.2 ≲z≲ 0.6) discovered by Pan-STARRS and the Dark Energy Survey. By comparing higher-zHST data with 42 SNe Ia atz< 0.1 observed in the NIR by the Carnegie Supernova Project, we construct a Hubble diagram from NIR observations (with only time of maximum light and some selection cuts from optical photometry) to pursue a unique avenue to constrain the dark energy equation-of-state parameter,w. We analyze the dependence of the full set of Hubble residuals on the SN Ia host galaxy mass and find Hubble residual steps of size ∼0.06-0.1 mag with 1.5σ−2.5σsignificance depending on the method and step location used. Combining our NIR sample with cosmic microwave background constraints, we find 1 +w= −0.17 ± 0.12 (statistical + systematic errors). The largest systematic errors are the redshift-dependent SN selection biases and the properties of the NIR mass step. We also use these data to measureH₀= 75.9 ± 2.2 km s⁻¹Mpc⁻¹from stars with geometric distance calibration in the hosts of eight SNe Ia observed in the NIR versusH₀= 71.2 ± 3.8 km s⁻¹Mpc⁻¹using an inverse distance ladder approach tied to Planck. Using optical data, we find 1 +w= −0.10 ± 0.09, and with optical and NIR data combined, we find 1 +w= −0.06 ± 0.07; these shifts of up to ∼0.11 inwcould point to inconsistency in the optical versus NIR SN models. There will be many opportunities to improve this NIR measurement and better understand systematic uncertainties through larger low-zsamples, new light-curve models, calibration improvements, and eventually by building high-zsamples from the Roman Space Telescope.

 

ABSTRACT M31-LRN-2015 is a likely stellar merger discovered in the Andromeda Galaxy in 2015. We present new optical to mid-infrared photometry and optical spectroscopy for this event. Archival data show that the source started to brighten ∼2 yr before the nova event. During this precursor phase, the source brightened by ∼3 mag. The light curve at 6 and 1.5 months before the main outburst may show periodicity, with periods of 16 ± 0.3 and 28.1 ± 1.4 d, respectively. This complex emission may be explained by runaway mass-loss from the system after the binary undergoes Roche lobe overflow, leading the system to coalesce in tens of orbital periods. While the progenitor spectral energy distribution shows no evidence of pre-existing warm dust in the system, the remnant forms an optically thick dust shell at approximately four months after the outburst peak. The optical depth of the shell increases dramatically after 1.5 yr, suggesting the existence of shocks that enhance the dust formation process. We propose that the merger remnant is likely an inflated giant obscured by a cooling shell of gas with mass ∼0.2 M⊙ ejected at the onset of the common envelope phase. 

Abstract We present a multiwavelength photometric and spectroscopic analysis of 13 super-Chandrasekhar-mass/2003fg-like Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia). Nine of these objects were observed by the Carnegie Supernova Project. The 2003fg-like SNe have slowly declining light curves (Δ m 15 ( B ) < 1.3 mag), and peak absolute B -band magnitudes of −19 < M B < −21 mag. Many of the 2003fg-like SNe are located in the same part of the luminosity–width relation as normal SNe Ia. In the optical B and V bands, the 2003fg-like SNe look like normal SNe Ia, but at redder wavelengths they diverge. Unlike other luminous SNe Ia, the 2003fg-like SNe generally have only one i -band maximum, which peaks after the epoch of the B -band maximum, while their near-IR (NIR) light-curve rise times can be ≳40 days longer than those of normal SNe Ia. They are also at least 1 mag brighter in the NIR bands than normal SNe Ia, peaking above M H = −19 mag, and generally have negative Hubble residuals, which may be the cause of some systematics in dark-energy experiments. Spectroscopically, the 2003fg-like SNe exhibit peculiarities such as unburnt carbon well past maximum light, a large spread (8000–12,000 km s −1 ) in Si ii λ 6355 velocities at maximum light with no rapid early velocity decline, and no clear H -band break at +10 days. We find that SNe with a larger pseudo-equivalent width of C ii at maximum light have lower Si ii λ 6355 velocities and more slowly declining light curves. There are also multiple factors that contribute to the peak luminosity of 2003fg-like SNe. The explosion of a C–O degenerate core inside a carbon-rich envelope is consistent with these observations. Such a configuration may come from the core-degenerate scenario. 

Faint star-forming galaxies at z∼2–3 can be used as alternative background sources to probe the Lyα forest in addition to quasars, yielding high sightline densities that enable 3D tomographic reconstruction of the foreground absorption field. Here, we present the first data release from the COSMOS Lyα Mapping And Tomography Observations (CLAMATO) Survey, which was conducted with the LRIS spectrograph on the Keck I telescope. Over an observational footprint of 0.157 deg2 within the COSMOS field, we used 240 galaxies and quasars at 2.17<z<3.00, with a mean comoving transverse separation of 2.37 h-1 Mpc, as background sources probing the foreground Lyα forest absorption at 2.05<z<2.55. The Lyα forest data was then used to create a Wiener- filtered tomographic reconstruction over a comoving volume of 3.15 ́ 105 h-3 Mpc3 with an effective smoothing scale of 2.5 h-1 Mpc. In addition to traditional figures, this map is also presented as a virtual-reality visualization and manipulable interactive figure. We see large overdensities and underdensities that visually agree with the distribution of coeval galaxies from spectroscopic redshift surveys in the same field, including overdensities associated with several recently discovered galaxy protoclusters in the volume. Quantitatively, the map signal-to- noise is S Nwiener » 3.4 over a 3 h−1Mpc top-hat kernel based on the variances estimated from the Wiener filter. This data release includes the redshift catalog, reduced spectra, extracted Lyα forest pixel data, and reconstructed tomographic map of the absorption. These can be downloaded from Zenodo 

Cosmological analyses with type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) often assume a single empirical relation between colour and luminosity (β) and do not account for varying host-galaxy dust properties. However, from studies of dust in large samples of galaxies, it is known that dust attenuation can vary significantly. Here, we take advantage of state-of-the-art modelling of galaxy properties to characterize dust parameters (dust attenuation AV, and a parameter describing the dust law slope RV) for 1100 Dark Energy Survey (DES) SN host galaxies. Utilizing optical and infrared data of the hosts alone, we find three key aspects of host dust that impact SN cosmology: (1) there exists a large range (∼1–6) of host RV; (2) high-stellar mass hosts have RV on average ∼0.7 lower than that of low-mass hosts; (3) for a subsample of 81 spectroscopically classified SNe there is a significant (>3σ) correlation between the Hubble diagram residuals of red SNe Ia and the host RV that when corrected for reduces scatter by $\sim 13{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ and the significance of the ‘mass step’ to ∼1σ. These represent independent confirmations of recent predictions based on dust that attempted to explain the puzzling ‘mass step’ and intrinsic scatter (σint) in SN Ia analyses.