Charlotte M. Wood
Supernova Cosmology
Type Ia Supernovae as Cosmological Probes
Supernova Cosmology Research Summary
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, P. Cote Half of my research work focuses on using SNe Ia as standard candles to precisely determine cosmological parameters. In particular, I am interested in testing if systematic differences that occur between SNe Ia observational properties can be the solution to the Hubble constant tension. To do this, I use surface brightness fluctuation (SBF) distances to giant, elliptical galaxies to calibrate the SNe Ia that occur in those galaxies and compare the cosmological results to those using Cepheids as the calibration method. Spoiler alert: SNe Ia variations do not appear to be a solution to the H0 tension. Related papers and presentations of this work are listed below.
Pantheon+
Pantheon+ is a set of 1701 light curves from 1550 SNe Ia compiled across 18 different surveys with recalibrated photometric systems. The recalibration is done by cross-calibrating the tertiary standards from each survey to the Pan-STARRS database. The sample is then used to retrain SALT2 and obtain light curve fit parameters. This set of consistently calibrated & fit SNe Ia is what I use in my work.
Collaborators: D. Scolnic, D. Brout, P. Garnavich, B. Rose
SBF Distances
For my work, I use the sample of SBF distances for 24 SNe Ia host galaxies from Jensen et al. (2021). The SBF distances in this work are calculated using improved SBF calibration and data analysis procedures for HST WFC3/IR images, resulting in a 4% median uncertainty out to distances of 100 Mpc.
Collaborators: J. Jensen, J. Blakeslee, P. Garnavich, P. Milne, P. Brown
Upcoming Related Work
I am also involved in pre-launch efforts for supernova cosmology related to the Roman Space Telescope. The near-IR sensitivity and field of view 100x that of HST make Roman well-poised to study SNe Ia at higher redshifts, adding an additional 2000-15000 SNe Ia to current samples. We will be able to better probe the nature of dark energy and the expansion of the universe with the higher-precision Hubble diagram we will create with Roman data.
Collaborators: D. Scolnic, B. Rose, R. Hounsell, D. Rubin, D. Jones, P. Garnavich, and more
Related Publications
| Date | Title & Authors | Links |
|---|---|---|
| TBD | Connecting Infrared Surface Brightness Fluctuation Distances to Type Ia Supernova Hosts: Testing the Top Rung of the Distance Ladder; P. Garnavich, C. M. Wood, et al.; ApJ submitted |
[ADS] [arXiv] |
| 10/2022 | The Pantheon+ Analysis: The Full Data Set and Light-curve Release D. Scolnic, D. Brout, A. Carr, ..., C. M. Wood, et al.; ApJ 938,113 |
[ADS] [arXiv] |
| 10/2022 | The Pantheon+ Analysis: SuperCal-fragilistic Cross Calibration, Retrained SALT2 Light-curve Model, and Calibration Systematic Uncertainty; D. Brout, G. Taylor, D. Scolnic, C. M. Wood, et al.; ApJ 938,111 |
[ADS] [arXiv] |
| 10/2022 | The Pantheon+ Analysis: Cosmological Constraints D. Brout, D. Scolnic, B. Popovic, ..., C. M. Wood, et al.; ApJ 938,110 |
[ADS] [arXiv] |
| 08/2021 | Infrared Surface Brightness Fluctuation Distances for MASSIVE and Type Ia Supernova Host Galaxies J. Jensen, J. P. Blakeslee, C.-P. Ma, ..., C. M. Wood; ApJS 255,21 |
[ADS] [arXiv] |
Related Talks & Presentations
| Date | Location | Type |
|---|---|---|
| 03/29/2023 | Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY | Invited seminar |
| 01/31/2023 | University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN (done virtually) | Invited seminar |
| 01/12/2023 | 241st Meeting of the AAS, Seattle, WA | Invited Special Session talk |
| 01/12/2023 | 241st Meeting of the AAS, Seattle, WA | Dissertation talk |
| 09/02/2022 | Iowa State University, Ames, IA | Invited seminar |
| 01/21/2022 | KIPAC, Stanford University, Stanford, CA (done virtually) | Invited tea talk/job talk |
| 12/08/2021 | GPS Annual Conference, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN | Contributed talk |
| 11/19/2021 | CIERA, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL (done virtually) | Invited seminar |
| 10/27/2021 | University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ | Invited seminar |
| 10/21/2021 | Duke University, Durham, NC (done virtually) | Invited seminar |
| 10/12/2021 | KIPAC, Stanford University, Stanford, CA (done virtually) | Invited tea talk |
| 10/08/2021 | University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS (done virtually) | Invited seminar |