Cosmology with photometrically classified type IA supernovae from the SDSS-II supernova survey

Abstract

We present the cosmological analysis of 752 photometrically–classified Type Ia Supernovae (SNe Ia) obtained from the full Sloan Digital Sky Survey II (SDSS-II) Supernova (SN) Survey, supplemented with host–galaxy spectroscopy from the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). Our photometric–classificationmethod is based on the SN typing technique of Sako et al. (2011), aided by host galaxy redshifts (0.05 < z < 0.55). SNANA simulations of our methodology estimate that we have a SN Ia typing efficiency of 70.8%, with only 3.9% contamination from core-collapse (non-Ia) SNe. We demonstrate that this level of contamination has no effect on our cosmological constraints. We quantify and correct for our selection effects (e.g., Malmquist bias) using simulations. When fitting to a flat _CDM cosmological model, we find that our photometric sample alone gives Ωm = 0.24+0.07/−0.05 (statistical errors only). If we relax the constraint on flatness, then our sample provides competitive joint statistical constraints on Ωm and Ω∆, comparable to those derived from the spectroscopically- confirmed three-year Supernova Legacy Survey (SNLS3). Using only our data, the statistics–only result favors an accelerating universe at 99.96% confidence. Assuming a constant wCDM cosmological model, and combining with H0, CMB and LRG data, we obtain w = −0.96+0.10/−0.10, Ωm = 0.29+0.02/−0.02 and Ωk = 0.00+0.03/−0.02 (statistical errors only), which is competitive with similar spectroscopically confirmed SNe Ia analyses. Overall this comparison is reassuring, considering the lower redshift leverage of the SDSS-II SN sample (z < 0.55) and the lack of spectroscopic confirmation used herein. These results demonstrate the potential of photometrically–classified SNe Ia samples in improving cosmological constraints.