Dimming of supernovae and gamma ray busts by Compton Scattering and its cosmological implications

Abstract

Free electrons deplete photons from type Ia supernovae through the (inverse) Compton scattering. This Compton dimming increases with redshift and reaches 0.004 mag at $z=1$ and 0.01 mag at $z=2$. Although far from sufficient to invalidate the existence of dark energy, it can bias constraint on dark energy at a level non-negligible for future supernova surveys. This effect is correctable and should be incorporated in supernova analysis. The Compton dimming has similar impact on cosmology based on gamma ray bursts as standard candles.

3 pages, 3 figures. Minor revisions. Accepted to ApJ

References in corpus (2)

• Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Three Year Results: Implications for Cosmology
• Reconstructing the Thomson Optical Depth due to Patchy Reionization with 21-cm Fluctuation Maps

Cited by in corpus (3)

• Quasars as standard candles VI: spectroscopic validation of the cosmological sample
• Investigating the effect of cosmic opacity on standard candles
• X-ray Scattering Echoes and Ghost Halos from the Intergalactic Medium: Relation to the nature of AGN variability