Measuring dark energy spatial inhomogeneity with supernova data

TL;DR

This paper explores how Type Ia supernovae can be used to detect large-scale spatial inhomogeneities and anisotropies in dark energy, proposing that shallow sky surveys can place tight constraints on dark energy fluctuations.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method to probe dark energy inhomogeneity using supernova data and demonstrates the potential of shallow surveys to constrain dark energy fluctuations.

Findings

Shallow, all-sky supernova surveys can limit dark energy fluctuations to fractional densities of ~10^-4.

Supernova lensing effects can serve as effective probes of dark energy spatial inhomogeneity.

The approach provides a new avenue for testing the uniformity of dark energy across the universe.

Abstract

The gravitational lensing distortion of distant sources by the large-scale distribution of matter in the Universe has been extensively studied. In contrast, very little is known about the effects due to the large-scale distribution of dark energy. We discuss the use of Type Ia supernovae as probes of the spatial inhomogeneity and anisotropy of dark energy. We show that a shallow, almost all-sky survey can limit rms dark energy fluctuations at the horizon scale down to a fractional energy density of ~10^-4