Type Ia Supernovae: Non-standard Candles of the Universe

TL;DR

This paper investigates how evolving dust absorption and white dwarf merger masses affect the interpretation of supernova data, challenging the standard view of accelerated cosmic expansion.

Contribution

It introduces the idea that changes in dust absorption and white dwarf masses over time can influence supernova observations, offering alternative explanations to cosmic acceleration.

Findings

Higher white dwarf merger masses at z > 2 should increase supernova energy.

Gray dust absorption varies with galaxy type and redshift.

Observed supernova data can be explained without invoking dark energy.

Abstract

We analyze the influence of the evolution of light absorption by gray dust in the host galaxies of type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) and the evolution of the mean combined mass of close-binary carbon-oxygen white dwarfs merging due to gravitational waves (SNe Ia precursors) on the interpretation of Hubble diagrams for SNe Ia. A significant increase in the mean SNe Ia energy due to the higher combined masses of merging dwarfs should be observable at redshifts z > 2. The observed relation between the distance moduli and redshifts of SNe Ia can be interpreted not only as evidence for accelerated expansion of the Universe, but also as indicating time variations of the gray-dust absorption of light from these supernovae in various types of host galaxies, observational selection effects, and the decrease in mean combined masses of merging degenerate dwarfs.