The $m$-$z$ relation for type Ia supernovae, locally inhomogeneous cosmological models, and the nature of dark matter

TL;DR

This paper examines how local inhomogeneities in matter density affect the interpretation of the supernova $m$-$z$ relation and the inferred cosmological parameters, exploring constraints on matter distribution along lines of sight.

Contribution

It introduces a parameter $$ to quantify line-of-sight matter density variations and analyzes their impact on cosmological parameter estimation from supernova data.

Findings

The $m$-$z$ relation is sensitive to matter density along the line of sight.

Constraints on $$ can be derived from supernova observations.

Inhomogeneities can bias estimates of $$ and cosmological parameters.

Abstract

The $m$-$z$ relation for type Ia supernovae is one of the key pieces of evidence supporting the cosmological `concordance model' with $\lambda_0 \approx 0.7$ and $\Omega_0 \approx 0.3$. However, it is well known that the $m$-$z$ relation depends not only on $\lambda_0$ and $\Omega_0$ (with $H_0$ as a scale factor) but also on the density of matter along the line of sight, which is not necessarily the same as the large-scale density. I investigate to what extent the measurement of $\lambda_0$ and $\Omega_0$ depends on this density when it is characterized by the parameter $\eta$ ($0 \le \eta \le 1$), which describes the ratio of density along the line of sight to the overall density. I also discuss what constraints can be placed on $\eta$, both with and without constraints on $\lambda_0$ and $\Omega_0$ in addition to those from the $m$-$z$ relation for type~Ia supernovae.