# Anisotropy of the Universe via the Pantheon supernovae sample revisited

## TL;DR

This study investigates cosmic anisotropy using the Pantheon supernovae sample with hemisphere comparison and dipole fitting methods, revealing anisotropy levels influenced by sample distribution and subsample impact, suggesting the need for more uniform data.

## Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of cosmic anisotropy in the Pantheon sample using two methods, highlighting the influence of data distribution and subsamples on anisotropy detection.

## Key findings

- Maximum anisotropy level is 0.361 with 2.1σ significance.
- Dipole anisotropy is weak, with magnitude less than 1.16×10⁻³.
- Anisotropy direction correlates with SDSS subsample orientation.

## Abstract

We employ the hemisphere comparison (HC) method and the dipole fitting (DF) method to investigate the cosmic anisotropy in the recently released Pantheon sample of type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) and five combinations among Pantheon. For the HC method, we find the maximum anisotropy level in the full Pantheon sample is $\mathrm{AL}_{max}=0.361\pm0.070$ and corresponding direction $(l,b)=({123.05^{\circ}}^{+11.25^{\circ}}_{-4.22^{\circ}}, {4.78^{\circ}}^{+1.80^{\circ}}_{-8.36^{\circ}})$. A robust check shows the statistical significance of maximum anisotropy level is about $2.1\sigma$. We also find that the Low-$z$ and SNLS subsamples have decisive impact on the overall anisotropy while other three subsamples have little impact. Moreover, the anisotropy level map significantly rely on the inhomogeneous distribution of SNe Ia in the sky. For the DF method, we find the dipole anisotropy in the Pantheon sample is very weak. The dipole magnitude is constrained to be less than $1.16\times10^{-3}$ at $95\%$ confidence level. However, the dipole direction is well inferred by MCMC method and it points towards $(l,b)=({306.00^{\circ}}^{+82.95^{\circ}}_{-125.01^{\circ}}, {-34.20^{\circ}}^{+16.82^{\circ}}_{-54.93^{\circ}})$. This direction is very close to the axial direction to the plane of SDSS subsample. It may imply that SDSS subsample is the decisive part to the dipole anisotropy in the full Pantheon sample. All these facts imply that the cosmic anisotropy found in Pantheon sample significantly rely on the inhomogeneous distribution of SNe Ia in the sky. More homogeneous distribution of SNe Ia is necessary to search for a more convincing cosmic anisotropy.