No Arabic abstract
In the upcoming decade cadenced wide-field imaging surveys will increase the number of identified $z<0.3$ Type~Ia supernovae (SNe~Ia) from the hundreds to the hundreds of thousands. The increase in the number density and solid-angle coverage of SNe~Ia, in parallel with improvements in the standardization of their absolute magnitudes, now make them competitive probes of the growth of structure and hence of gravity. The peculiar velocity power spectrum is sensitive to the growth index $gamma$, which captures the effect of gravity on the linear growth of structure through the relation $f=Omega_M^gamma$. We present the first projections for the precision in $gamma$ for a range of realistic SN peculiar-velocity survey scenarios. In the next decade the peculiar velocities of SNe~Ia in the local $z<0.3$ Universe will provide a measure of $gamma$ to $pm 0.01$ precision that can definitively distinguish between General Relativity and leading models of alternative gravity.
While Type Ia Supernovae (SNe Ia) are one of the most mature cosmological probes, the next era promises to be extremely exciting in the number of different ways SNe Ia are used to measure various cosmological parameters. Here we review the experiments in the 2020s that will yield orders of magnitudes more SNe Ia, and the new understandings and capabilities to constrain systematic uncertainties at a level to match these statistics. We then discuss five different cosmological probes with SNe Ia: the conventional Hubble diagram for measuring dark energy properties, the distance ladder for measuring the Hubble constant, peculiar velocities and weak lensing for measuring sigma8 and strong-lens measurements of H0 and other cosmological parameters. For each of these probes, we discuss the experiments that will provide the best measurements and also the SN Ia-related systematics that affect each one.
Cadenced optical imaging surveys in the next decade will be capable of detecting time-varying galaxy-scale strong gravitational lenses in large numbers, increasing the size of the statistically well-defined samples of multiply-imaged quasars by two orders of magnitude, and discovering the first strongly-lensed supernovae. We carry out a detailed calculation of the likely yields of several planned surveys, using realistic distributions for the lens and source properties and taking magnification bias and image configuration detectability into account. We find that upcoming wide-field synoptic surveys should detect several thousand lensed quasars. In particular, the LSST should find 8000 lensed quasars, 3000 of which will have well-measured time delays, and also ~130 lensed supernovae, which is compared with ~15 lensed supernovae predicted to be found by the JDEM. We predict the quad fraction to be ~15% for the lensed quasars and ~30% for the lensed supernovae. Generating a mock catalogue of around 1500 well-observed double-image lenses, we compute the available precision on the Hubble constant and the dark energy equation parameters for the time delay distance experiment (assuming priors from Planck): the predicted marginalised 68% confidence intervals are sigma(w_0)=0.15, sigma(w_a)=0.41, and sigma(h)=0.017. While this is encouraging in the sense that these uncertainties are only 50% larger than those predicted for a space-based type-Ia supernova sample, we show how the dark energy figure of merit degrades with decreasing knowledge of the the lens mass distribution. (Abridged)
We analyze the magnitude-redshift data of type Ia supernovae included in the Union and Union2 compilations in the framework of an anisotropic Bianchi type I cosmological model and in the presence of a dark energy fluid with anisotropic equation of state. We find that the amount of deviation from isotropy of the equation of state of dark energy, the skewness delta, and the present level of anisotropy of the large-scale geometry of the Universe, the actual shear Sigma_0, are constrained in the ranges -0.16 < delta < 0.12 and -0.012 < Sigma_0 < 0.012 (1sigma C.L.) by Union2 data. Supernova data are then compatible with a standard isotropic universe (delta = Sigma_0 = 0), but a large level of anisotropy, both in the geometry of the Universe and in the equation of state of dark energy, is allowed.
An important problem in precision cosmology is the determination of the effects of averaging and backreaction on observational predictions, particularly in view of the wealth of new observational data and improved statistical techniques. In this paper, we discuss the observational viability of a class of averaged cosmologies which consist of a simple parametrized phenomenological two-scale backreaction model with decoupled spatial curvature parameters. We perform a Bayesian model selection analysis and find that this class of averaged phenomenological cosmological models is favored with respect to the standard $Lambda$CDM cosmological scenario when a joint analysis of current SNe Ia and BAO data is performed. In particular, the analysis provides observational evidence for non-trivial spatial curvature.
Wide-angle surveys have been an engine for new discoveries throughout the modern history of astronomy, and have been among the most highly cited and scientifically productive observing facilities in recent years. This trend is likely to continue over the next decade, as many of the most important questions in astrophysics are best tackled with massive surveys, often in synergy with each other and in tandem with the more traditional observatories. We argue that these surveys are most productive and have the greatest impact when the data from the surveys are made public in a timely manner. The rise of the survey astronomer is a substantial change in the demographics of our field; one of the most important challenges of the next decade is to find ways to recognize the intellectual contributions of those who work on the infrastructure of surveys (hardware, software, survey planning and operations, and databases/data distribution), and to make career paths to allow them to thrive.