Type Ia Supernova cosmology combining data from the $Euclid$ mission and the Vera C. Rubin Observatory

TL;DR

This study evaluates how combining Euclid's near-infrared observations with LSST data can improve measurements of Type Ia supernovae, aiding cosmology and systematic understanding, especially in the context of upcoming space missions.

Contribution

It demonstrates the potential of Euclid deep field data to enhance supernova distance measurements and constrain systematic effects like the luminosity step, in preparation for future missions.

Findings

Over 3700 SNe Ia with >5 detections expected from Euclid deep fields.

Combining Euclid with LSST reduces distance uncertainties by up to 50%.

Euclid data can help measure the dust-related luminosity step in NIR.

Abstract

The $Euclid$ mission will provide first-of-its-kind coverage in the near-infrared over deep (three fields, $\sim$10-20 square degrees each) and wide ($\sim$10000 square degrees) fields. While the survey is not designed to discover transients, the deep fields will have repeated observations over a two-week span, followed by a gap of roughly six months. In this analysis, we explore how useful the deep field observations will be for measuring properties of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia). Using simulations that include $Euclid$'s planned depth, area and cadence in the deep fields, we calculate that more than 3700 SNe between $0.0<z<1.5$ will have at least five $Euclid$ detections around peak with signal-to-noise ratio larger than 3. While on their own, $Euclid$ light curves are not good enough to directly constrain distances, when combined with LSST deep field observations, we find that uncertainties on SN distances are reduced by 20-30% for $z<0.8$ and by 40-50% for $z>0.8$. Furthermore, we predict how well additional $Euclid$ mock data can be used to constrain a key systematic in SN Ia studies - the size of the luminosity 'step' found between SNe hosted in high mass ($>10^{10} M_{\odot}$) and low mass ($>10^{10} M_{\odot}$) galaxies. This measurement has unique information in the rest-frame NIR. We predict that if the step is caused by dust, we will be able to measure its reduction in the NIR compared to optical at the 4$\sigma$ level. We highlight that the LSST and $Euclid$ observing strategies used in this work are still provisional and some level of joint processing is required. Still, these first results are promising, and assuming $Euclid$ begins observations well before the Nancy Roman Space Telescope (Roman), we expect this dataset to be extremely helpful for preparation for Roman itself.