Effect of evolving physical constants on type Ia supernova luminosity

• Published in: Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 2022-02, Vol.511 (3), p.4238-4250
• Main Author: Gupta, Rajendra P
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0035-8711; 1365-2966
• DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stac254

Type Ia supernovae, SNeIa, are used as standard candles in cosmology to determine the distances of the galaxies harbouring them. We show that the luminosity of an SNIa depends on its distance from us when physical constants (the speed of light c, the gravitational constant G, and the Planck constant h) are permitted to evolve. It is because the Chandrasekhar mass of the white dwarf that explodes to create SNIa depends on the values of the constants at the epoch the SNIa is formed. We show that the SNeIa luminosities could be about four times higher in the past than they are now. Thus, the luminosity distance estimation of the earliest SNeIa could be off by up to a factor of 2. Cosmological parameters, determined with this correction applied to the redshift versus distance modulus data base (Pantheon SNeIa), are not very different from those from the standard ΛCDM model without this correction, except for the dark-energy density and the curvature energy density; the latter increases at the cost of the former. Variations of the constants are given by $\dot{G}/G = \ 3.90 \ ( { \pm 0.04} ) \times {10^{ - 10}}\ {\rm y{r^{ - 1}}}$and $\dot{c}/c = \dot{h}/h\ = \ 1.30\ ( { \pm 0.01} ) \times {10^{ - 10}}\ {\rm y{r^{ - 1}}}$ at present. These variations are valid only when $G,\ c,\ $and$\ h$ are permitted to vary concurrently rather than individually.