Old Universe, Young SNe Ia: A Statistical Analysis of Type Ia Supernova Progenitor Age from 6,983 TITAN Host Galaxies, and Implications for Cosmology

TL;DR

This study analyzes a large sample of low-redshift Type Ia supernova host galaxies to investigate progenitor age effects and their impact on cosmological measurements, finding minimal bias from age evolution.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed statistical analysis of progenitor ages in a large low-redshift SN Ia sample, challenging strong-evolution models and quantifying age-related biases.

Findings

Progenitor ages are younger than predicted by strong-evolution models.

Most progenitors are from star-forming hosts with a mean age of 3.5 Gyr.

Redshift-dependent bias in supernova luminosity is consistent with zero.

Abstract

Correlations between standardized Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) luminosities and host-galaxy properties are routinely modeled to avoid bias in cosmological parameter inference. A recent hypothesis attributes these correlations to progenitor-age variations and, combined with a strong ($\sim$5-6 Gyr) age evolution between low- and high-redshift samples, could alter cosmological conclusions. We test this scenario using the SN Ia host galaxies of TITAN DR1, the largest low-redshift sample of its kind to date (6,983 hosts; 0 $\lesssim$ z $\lesssim$ 0.15). Progenitor ages are estimated by combining host-galaxy star-formation histories (SFHs) with empirical delay-time distributions. The SFHs are constrained via spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting of photometry spanning ultraviolet (UV) to mid-infrared (MIR) wavelengths, enabling robust separation of dusty star-forming and quiescent systems. The resulting progenitor-age distribution has a mean of 3.5 Gyr, substantially younger than predicted by strong-evolution models. It is strongly peaked near 2.2 Gyr, predominantly from star-forming hosts (60% of the sample), with a smaller, broader component centered near 6.0 Gyr from quiescent systems. Restricting to high-mass galaxies (in order to isolate progenitor effects from the mass-step), the age difference between host types reduces to 3.3 Gyr which, under the age-dependence hypothesis, would imply a 0.10 mag luminosity offset, inconsistent with observed standardized magnitudes. We infer a modest 1.5 Gyr evolution in mean progenitor age over cosmic time which, combined with observed age-Hubble-residual (HR) relations, yields a maximum redshift-dependent bias of $\Delta$HR = $-0.007^{+0.012}_{-0.014}$ mag, consistent with zero. We find no evidence for a large, unmodeled progenitor-age systematic beyond what is already captured, to good approximation, by standard host-mass corrections.