Constraining dust and color variations of high-z SNe using NICMOS on Hubble Space Telescope

Abstract

We present data from the Supernova Cosmology Project for five high redshift Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) that were obtained using the NICMOS infrared camera on the Hubble Space Telescope. We add two SNe from this sample to a rest-frame I-band Hubble diagram, doubling the number of high redshift supernovae on this diagram. This I-band Hubble diagram is consistent with a flat universe (Omega_Matter, Omega_Lambda= 0.29, 0.71). A homogeneous distribution of large grain dust in the intergalactic medium (replenishing dust) is incompatible with the data and is excluded at the 5 sigma confidence level, if the SN host galaxy reddening is corrected assuming R_V=1.75. We use both optical and infrared observations to compare photometric properties of distant SNe Ia with those of nearby objects. We find generally good agreement with the expected color evolution for all SNe except the highest redshift SN in our sample (SN 1997ek at z=0.863) which shows a peculiar color behavior. We also present spectra obtained from ground based telescopes for type identification and determination of redshift.

30 pages, 10 figures; accepted for publication in ApJ; v2: revised to match the version in the journal

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Cited by in corpus (3)

• Spectra and Light Curves of Six Type Ia Supernovae at 0.511 < z < 1.12 and the Union2 Compilation
• Using Rest-Frame Optical and NIR Data from the RAISIN Survey to Explore the Redshift Evolution of Dust Laws in SN Ia Host Galaxies
• A Calibration of NICMOS Camera 2 for Low Count-Rates