Probing Dark Energy Inhomogeneities with Supernovae

TL;DR

This paper investigates the potential to detect dark energy inhomogeneities through supernova data, finding limited current evidence but promising future prospects with upcoming surveys and satellite missions.

Contribution

It introduces methods to analyze supernova data for anisotropies and inhomogeneities, and forecasts the improved detection capabilities of future surveys and the SNAP satellite.

Findings

Current data shows no significant large-scale correlations.

A weak anticorrelation is observed at low redshift around 40 degrees.

Future surveys and SNAP will enhance detection sensitivity.

Abstract

We discuss the possibility to identify anisotropic and/or inhomogeneous cosmological models using type Ia supernova data. A search for correlations in current type Ia peak magnitudes over a large range of angular scales yields a null result. However, the same analysis limited to supernovae at low redshift, shows a feeble anticorrelation at the two sigma level at angular scales of about 40 degrees. Upcoming data from, e.g., the SNLS (Supernova Legacy Survey) and the SDSS-II (SDSS: Sloan Digital Sky Survey) supernova searches will improve our limits on the size of - or possibly detect - possible correlations also at high redshift at the per cent level in the near future. With data from the proposed SNAP (SuperNova Acceleration Probe) satellite, we will be able to detect the induced correlations from gravitational lensing on type Ia peak magnitudes on scales less than a degree.