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# The Accelerating Universe and Dark Energy: Evidence from Type Ia Supernovae

## 1 Introduction

Supernovae (SNe) come in two main varieties (see Filippenko 1997b for a review). Those whose optical spectra exhibit hydrogen are classified as Type II, while hydrogen-deficient SNe are designated Type I. SNe I are further subdivided according to the appearance of the early-time spectrum: SNe Ia are characterized by strong absorption near 6150 Å (now attributed to Si II), SNe Ib lack this feature but instead show prominent He I lines, and SNe Ic have neither the Si II nor the He I lines. SNe Ia are believed to result from the thermonuclear disruption of carbon-oxygen white dwarfs, while SNe II come from core collapse in massive supergiant stars. The latter mechanism probably produces most SNe Ib/Ic as well, but the progenitor stars previously lost their outer layers of hydrogen or even helium.

It has long been recognized that SNe Ia may be very useful distance indicators for a number of reasons; see Branch & Tammann (1992), Branch (1998), and references therein. (1) They are exceedingly luminous, with peak $`M_B`$ averaging $`19.0`$ mag if $`H_0=72`$ km s-1 Mpc-1. (2) “Normal” SNe Ia have small dispersion among their peak absolute magnitudes ($`\sigma \stackrel{<}{}0.3`$ mag). (3) Our understanding of the progenitors and explosion mechanism of SNe Ia is on a reasonably firm physical basis. (4) Little cosmic evolution is expected in the peak luminosities of SNe Ia, and it can be modeled. This makes SNe Ia superior to galaxies as distance indicators. (5) One can perform local tests of various possible complications and evolutionary effects by comparing nearby SNe Ia in different environments.

Research on SNe Ia in the 1990s has demonstrated their enormous potential as cosmological distance indicators. Although there are subtle effects that must indeed be taken into account, it appears that SNe Ia provide among the most accurate values of $`H_0`$, $`q_0`$ (the deceleration parameter), $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M`$ (the matter density), and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ \[the cosmological constant, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }c^2/(3H_0^2)`$\].

There have been two major teams involved in the systematic investigation of high-redshift SNe Ia for cosmological purposes. The “Supernova Cosmology Project” (SCP) is led by Saul Perlmutter of the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, while the “High-Z Supernova Search Team” (HZT) is led by Brian Schmidt of the Mt. Stromlo and Siding Springs Observatories. I have been privileged to work with both teams (see Filippenko 2001 for a personal account), but my primary allegiance is now with the HZT.

## 2 Homogeneity and Heterogeneity

Until the mid-1990s, the traditional way in which SNe Ia were used for cosmological distance determinations was to assume that they are perfect “standard candles” and to compare their observed peak brightness with those of SNe Ia in galaxies whose distances had been independently determined (e.g., with Cepheid variables). The rationale was that SNe Ia exhibit relatively little scatter in their peak blue luminosity ($`\sigma _B0.4`$–0.5 mag; Branch & Miller 1993), and even less if “peculiar” or highly reddened objects were eliminated from consideration by using a color cut. Moreover, the optical spectra of SNe Ia are usually rather homogeneous, if care is taken to compare objects at similar times relative to maximum brightness (Riess et al. 1997, and references therein). Over 80% of all SNe Ia discovered through the early 1990s were “normal” (Branch, Fisher, & Nugent 1993).

From a Hubble diagram constructed with unreddened, moderately distant SNe Ia ($`z\stackrel{<}{}0.1`$) for which peculiar motions are small and relative distances (given by ratios of redshifts) are accurate, Vaughan et al. (1995) find that

$$M_B(\mathrm{max})=(19.74\pm 0.06)+5\mathrm{log}(H_0/50)\mathrm{mag}.$$
(1)
In a series of papers, Sandage et al. (1996) and Saha et al. (1997) combine similar relations with Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Cepheid distances to the host galaxies of seven SNe Ia to derive $`H_0=57\pm 4`$ km s-1 Mpc-1.

Over the past two decades it has become clear, however, that SNe Ia do not constitute a perfectly homogeneous subclass (e.g., Filippenko 1997a,b). In retrospect this should have been obvious: the Hubble diagram for SNe Ia exhibits scatter larger than the photometric errors, the dispersion actually rises when reddening corrections are applied (under the assumption that all SNe Ia have uniform, very blue intrinsic colors at maximum; van den Bergh & Pazder 1992; Sandage & Tammann 1993), and there are some significant outliers whose anomalous magnitudes cannot be explained by extinction alone.

Spectroscopic and photometric peculiarities have been noted with increasing frequency in well-observed SNe Ia. A striking case is SN 1991T; its pre-maximum spectrum did not exhibit Si II or Ca II absorption lines, yet two months past maximum brightness the spectrum was nearly indistinguishable from that of a classical SN Ia (Filippenko et al. 1992b; Phillips et al. 1993). The light curves of SN 1991T were slightly broader than the SN Ia template curves, and the object was probably somewhat more luminous than average at maximum. Another well-observed, peculiar SNe Ia is SN 1991bg (Filippenko et al. 1992a; Leibundgut et al. 1993; Turatto et al. 1996). At maximum brightness it was subluminous by 1.6 mag in $`V`$ and 2.5 mag in $`B`$, its colors were intrinsically red, and its spectrum was peculiar (with a deep absorption trough due to Ti II). Moreover, the decline from maximum was very steep, the $`I`$-band light curve did not exhibit a secondary maximum like normal SNe Ia, and the velocity of the ejecta was unusually low. The photometric heterogeneity among SNe Ia is well demonstrated by Suntzeff (1996) with objects having excellent $`BVRI`$ light curves.

## 3 Cosmological Uses: Low Redshifts

Although SNe Ia can no longer be considered perfect “standard candles,” they are still exceptionally useful for cosmological distance determinations. Excluding those of low luminosity (which are hard to find, especially at large distances), most of the nearby SNe Ia that had been discovered through the early 1990s were nearly standard (Branch et al. 1993; but see Li et al. 2001b for more recent evidence of a higher intrinsic peculiarity rate). Also, after many tenuous suggestions (e.g., Pskovskii 1977, 1984; Branch 1981), Phillips (1993) found convincing evidence for a correlation between light curve shape and the luminosity at maximum brightness by quantifying the photometric differences among a set of nine well-observed SNe Ia, using a parameter \[$`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{15}(B)`$\] that measures the total drop (in $`B`$ magnitudes) from $`B`$-band maximum to $`t=15`$ days later. In all cases the host galaxies of his SNe Ia have accurate relative distances from surface brightness fluctuations or from the Tully-Fisher relation. The intrinsically bright SNe Ia clearly decline more slowly than dim ones, but the correlation is stronger in $`B`$ than in $`V`$ or $`I`$.

Using SNe Ia discovered during the Calán/Tololo survey ($`z\stackrel{<}{}0.1`$), Hamuy et al. (1995, 1996b) refine the Phillips (1993) correlation between peak luminosity and $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{15}(B)`$. Apparently the slope is steep only at low luminosities; thus, objects such as SN 1991bg skew the slope of the best-fitting single straight line. Hamuy et al. reduce the scatter in the Hubble diagram of normal, unreddened SNe Ia to only 0.17 mag in $`B`$ and 0.14 mag in $`V`$; see also Tripp (1997). Yet another parameterization is the “stretch” method of Perlmutter et al. (1997) and Goldhaber et al. (2001): the $`B`$-band light curves of SNe Ia appear nearly identical when expanded or contracted temporally by a factor $`(1+s)`$, where the value of $`s`$ varies among objects. In a similar but distinct effort, Riess, Press, & Kirshner (1995) show that the luminosity of SNe Ia correlates with the detailed shape of the overall light curve.

By using light curve shapes measured through several different filters, Riess, Press, & Kirshner (1996a) extend their analysis and objectively eliminate the effects of interstellar extinction: a SN Ia that has an unusually red $`BV`$ color at maximum brightness is assumed to be intrinsically subluminous if its light curves rise and decline quickly, or of normal luminosity but significantly reddened if its light curves rise and decline more slowly. With a set of 20 SNe Ia consisting of the Calán/Tololo sample and their own objects, they show that the dispersion decreases from 0.52 mag to 0.12 mag after application of this “multi-color light curve shape” (MLCS) method. The results from an expanded set of nearly 50 SNe Ia indicate that the dispersion decreases from 0.44 mag to 0.15 mag (Figure 1). The resulting Hubble constant is $`65\pm 2`$ (statistical) $`\pm 7`$ (systematic) km s-1 Mpc-1, with an additional systematic and zeropoint uncertainty of $`\pm 5`$ km s-1 Mpc-1. (Re-calibrations of the Cepheid distance scale, and other recent refinements, lead to a best estimate of $`H_0=72\pm 8`$ km s-1 Mpc-1, where the error bar includes both statistical and systematic uncertainties; Parodi et al. 2000; Freeman et al. 2001.) Riess et al. (1996a) also show that the Hubble flow is remarkably linear; indeed, SNe Ia now constitute the best evidence for linearity. Finally, they argue that the dust affecting SNe Ia is not of circumstellar origin, and show quantitatively that the extinction curve in external galaxies typically does not differ from that in the Milky Way (cf. Branch & Tammann 1992, but see Tripp 1998).

Figure 1: Hubble diagrams for SNe Ia (A. G. Riess 2001, private communication) with velocities (km s-1) in the COBE rest frame on the Cepheid distance scale. The ordinate shows distance modulus, $`mM`$ (mag). Top: The objects are assumed to be standard candles and there is no correction for extinction; the result is $`\sigma =0.42`$ mag and $`H_0=58\pm 8`$ km s-1 Mpc-1. Bottom: The same objects, after correction for reddening and intrinsic differences in luminosity. The result is $`\sigma =0.15`$ mag and $`H_0=65\pm 2`$ (statistical) km s-1 Mpc-1, subject to changes in the zeropoint of the Cepheid distance scale. (Indeed, the latest results with SNe Ia favor $`H_0=72`$ km s-1 Mpc-1.)

The advantage of systematically correcting the luminosities of SNe Ia at high redshifts rather than trying to isolate “normal” ones seems clear in view of evidence that the luminosity of SNe Ia may be a function of stellar population. If the most luminous SNe Ia occur in young stellar populations (e.g., Hamuy et al. 1996a, 2000; Branch, Baron, & Romanishin 1996; Ivanov, Hamuy, & Pinto 2000), then we might expect the mean peak luminosity of high-$`z`$ SNe Ia to differ from that of a local sample. Alternatively, the use of Cepheids (Population I objects) to calibrate local SNe Ia can lead to a zeropoint that is too luminous. On the other hand, as long as the physics of SNe Ia is essentially the same in young stellar populations locally and at high redshift, we should be able to adopt the luminosity correction methods (photometric and spectroscopic) found from detailed studies of low-$`z`$ SNe Ia.

Large numbers of nearby SNe Ia are now being found by my team’s Lick Observatory Supernova Search (LOSS) conducted with the 0.76-m Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope (KAIT; Li et al. 2000; Filippenko et al. 2001; Filippenko 2003; see http://astro.berkeley.edu/$``$bait/kait.html). CCD images are taken of $`1000`$ galaxies per night and compared with KAIT “template images” obtained earlier; the templates are automatically subtracted from the new images and analyzed with computer software. The system reobserves the best candidates the same night, to eliminate star-like cosmic rays, asteroids, and other sources of false alarms. The next day, undergraduate students at UC Berkeley examine all candidates, including weak ones, and they glance at all subtracted images to locate SNe that might be near bright, poorly subtracted stars or galactic nuclei. LOSS discovered 20 SNe (of all types) in 1998, 40 in 1999, 38 in 2000, 68 in 2001, and 82 in 2002, making it by far the world’s leading search for nearby SNe. The most important objects were photometrically monitored through $`BVRI`$ (and sometimes $`U`$) filters (e.g., Li et al. 2001a, 2003; Modjaz et al. 2001; Leonard et al. 2002a,b), and unfiltered follow-up observations (e.g., Matheson et al. 2001) were made of most of them during the course of the SN search. This growing sample of well-observed SNe Ia should allow us to more precisely calibrate the MLCS method, as well as to look for correlations between the observed properties of the SNe and their environment (Hubble type of host galaxy, metallicity, stellar population, etc.).

## 4 Cosmological Uses: High Redshifts

These same techniques can be applied to construct a Hubble diagram with high-redshift SNe Ia, from which the value of $`q_0=(\mathrm{\Omega }_M/2)\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ can be determined. With enough objects spanning a range of redshifts, we can measure $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ independently (e.g., Goobar & Perlmutter 1995). Contours of peak apparent $`R`$-band magnitude for SNe Ia at two redshifts have different slopes in the $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M`$$`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ plane, and the regions of intersection provide the answers we seek.

### 4.1 The Search

Based on the pioneering work of Norgaard-Nielsen et al. (1989), whose goal was to find SNe in moderate-redshift clusters of galaxies, the SCP (Perlmutter et al. 1995a, 1997) and the HZT (Schmidt et al. 1998) devised a strategy that almost guarantees the discovery of many faint, distant SNe Ia “on demand,” during a predetermined set of nights. This “batch” approach to studying distant SNe allows follow-up spectroscopy and photometry to be scheduled in advance, resulting in a systematic study not possible with random discoveries. Most of the searched fields are equatorial, permitting follow-up from both hemispheres. The SCP was the first group to convincingly demonstrate the ability to find SNe in batches.

Our approach is simple in principle; see Schmidt et al. (1998) for details, and for a description of our first high-redshift SN Ia (SN 1995K). Pairs of first-epoch images are obtained with wide-field cameras on large telescopes (e.g., the Big Throughput Camera on the CTIO 4-m Blanco telescope) during the nights around new moon, followed by second-epoch images 3–4 weeks later. (Pairs of images permit removal of cosmic rays, asteroids, and distant Kuiper-belt objects.) These are compared immediately using well-tested software, and new SN candidates are identified in the second-epoch images (Figure 2). Spectra are obtained as soon as possible after discovery to verify that the objects are SNe Ia and determine their redshifts. Each team has already found over nearly 200 SNe in concentrated batches, as reported in numerous IAU Circulars (e.g., Perlmutter et al. 1995b, 11 SNe with $`0.16\stackrel{<}{}z\stackrel{<}{}0.65`$; Suntzeff et al. 1996, 17 SNe with $`0.09\stackrel{<}{}z\stackrel{<}{}0.84`$). The observed SN Ia rate at $`z0.5`$ is consistent with the low-$`z`$ SN Ia rate together with plausible star-formation histories (Pain et al. 2002; Tonry et al. 2003), but the error bars on the high-$`z`$ rate are still quite large.

Figure 2: Discovery image of SN 1997cj (28 April 1997), along with the template image and an HST image obtained subsequently. The net (subtracted) image is also shown.

Intensive photometry of the SNe Ia commences within a few days after procurement of the second-epoch images; it is continued throughout the ensuing and subsequent dark runs. In a few cases HST images are obtained. As expected, most of the discoveries are on the rise or near maximum brightness. When possible, the SNe are observed in filters that closely match the redshifted $`B`$ and $`V`$ bands; this way, the K-corrections become only a second-order effect (Kim, Goobar, & Perlmutter 1996; Nugent, Kim, & Perlmutter 2002). We try to obtain excellent multi-color light curves, so that reddening and luminosity corrections can be applied (Riess et al. 1996a; Hamuy et al. 1996a,b).

Although SNe in the magnitude range 22–22.5 can sometimes be spectroscopically confirmed with 4-m class telescopes, the signal-to-noise ratios are low, even after several hours of integration. Certainly Keck, Gemini, the VLT, or Magellan are required for the fainter objects (22.5–24.5 mag). With the largest telescopes, not only can we rapidly confirm a substantial number of candidate SNe, but we can search for peculiarities in the spectra that might indicate evolution of SNe Ia with redshift. Moreover, high-quality spectra allow us to measure the age of a SN: we have developed a method for automatically comparing the spectrum of a SN Ia with a library of spectra from many different epochs in the development of SNe Ia (Riess et al. 1997). Our technique also has great practical utility at the telescope: we can determine the age of a SN “on the fly,” within half an hour after obtaining its spectrum. This allows us to decide rapidly which SNe are best for subsequent photometric follow-up, and we immediately alert our collaborators elsewhere.

### 4.2 Results

First, we note that the light curves of high-redshift SNe Ia are broader than those of nearby SNe Ia; the initial indications (Leibundgut et al. 1996; Goldhaber et al. 1997), based on small numbers of SNe Ia, are amply confirmed with the larger samples (Goldhaber et al. 2001). Quantitatively, the amount by which the light curves are “stretched” is consistent with a factor of $`1+z`$, as expected if redshifts are produced by the expansion of space rather than by “tired light” and other non-expansion hypotheses for the redshifts of objects at cosmological distances. \[For non-standard cosmological interpretations of the SN Ia data, see Narlikar & Arp (1997) and Hoyle, Burbidge, & Narlikar (2000).\] We also demonstrate this spectroscopically at the $`2\sigma `$ confidence level for a single object: the spectrum of SN 1996bj ($`z=0.57`$) evolved more slowly than those of nearby SNe Ia, by a factor consistent with $`1+z`$ (Riess et al. 1997). More recently, we have used observations of SN 1997ex ($`z=0.36`$) at three epochs to conclusively verify the effects of time dilation: temporal changes in the spectra are slower than those of nearby SNe Ia by roughly the expected factor of 1.36. Although one might be able to argue that something other than universal expansion could be the cause of the apparent stretching of SN Ia light curves at high redshifts, it is much more difficult to attribute apparently slower evolution of spectral details to an unknown effect.

The formal value of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M`$ derived from SNe Ia has changed with time. The SCP published the first result (Perlmutter et al. 1995a), based on a single object, SN 1992bi at $`z=0.458`$: $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M=0.2\pm 0.6\pm 1.1`$ (assuming that $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0`$). The SCP’s analysis of their first seven objects (Perlmutter et al. 1997) suggested a much larger value of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M=0.88\pm 0.6`$ (if $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0`$) or $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M=0.94\pm 0.3`$ (if $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{total}}=1`$). Such a high-density universe seemed at odds with other, independent measurements of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M`$. However, with the subsequent inclusion of just one more object, SN 1997ap at $`z=0.83`$ (the highest known for a SN Ia at the time; Perlmutter et al. 1998), their estimates were revised back down to $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M=0.2\pm 0.4`$ if $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0`$, and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M=0.6\pm 0.2`$ if $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{total}}=1`$; the apparent brightness of SN 1997ap had been precisely measured with HST, so it substantially affected the best fits.

Meanwhile, the HZT published (Garnavich et al. 1998a) an analysis of four objects (three of them observed with HST), including SN 1997ck at $`z=0.97`$, at that time a redshift record, although they cannot be absolutely certain that the object was a SN Ia because the spectrum is too poor. From these data, the HZT derived that $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M=0.1\pm 0.5`$ (assuming $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0`$) and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M=0.35\pm 0.3`$ (assuming $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{total}}=1`$), inconsistent with the high $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M`$ initially found by Perlmutter et al. (1997) but consistent with the revised estimate in Perlmutter et al. (1998). An independent analysis of 10 SNe Ia using the “snapshot” distance method (with which conclusions are drawn from sparsely observed SNe Ia) gave quantitatively similar conclusions (Riess et al. 1998a). However, none of these early data sets carried the statistical discriminating power to detect cosmic acceleration.

The SCP’s next results were announced at the 1998 January AAS meeting in Washington, DC. A press conference was scheduled, with the stated purpose of presenting and discussing the then-current evidence for a low-$`\mathrm{\Omega }_M`$ universe as published by Perlmutter et al. (1998; SCP) and Garnavich et al. (1998a; HZT). When showing the SCP’s Hubble diagram for SNe Ia, however, Perlmutter also pointed out tentative evidence for acceleration! He said that the conclusion was uncertain, and that the data were equally consistent with no acceleration; the systematic errors had not yet been adequately assessed. Essentially the same conclusion was given by the SCP in their talks at a conference on dark matter, near Los Angeles, in February 1998 (Goldhaber & Perlmutter 1998).

Although it chose not to reveal them at the same 1998 January AAS meeting, the HZT already had similar, tentative evidence for acceleration in their own SN Ia data set. The HZT continued to perform numerous checks of their data analysis and interpretation, including fairly thorough consideration of various possible systematic effects. Unable to find any significant problems, even with the possible systematic effects, the HZT reported detection of a nonzero value for $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ (based on 16 high-$`z`$ SNe Ia) at the Los Angeles dark matter conference in February 1998 (Filippenko & Riess 1998), and soon thereafter submitted a formal paper that was published in September 1998 (Riess et al. 1998b). Their original Hubble diagram for the 10 best-observed high-$`z`$ SNe Ia is given in Figure 3. With the MLCS method applied to the full set of 16 SNe Ia, the HZT’s formal results were $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M=0.24\pm 0.10`$ if $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{total}}=1`$, or $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M=0.35\pm 0.18`$ (unphysical) if $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0`$. If one demanded that $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M=0.2`$, then the best value for $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ was $`0.66\pm 0.21`$. These conclusions did not change significantly when only the 10 best-observed SNe Ia were used (Figure 3; $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M=0.28\pm 0.10`$ if $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{total}}=1`$).

Figure 3 (left): The upper panel shows the Hubble diagram for the low-$`z`$ and high-$`z`$ HZT SN Ia sample with MLCS distances; see Riess et al. (1998b). Overplotted are three world models: “low” and “high” $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M`$ with $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0`$, and the best fit for a flat universe ($`\mathrm{\Omega }_M=0.28`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0.72`$). The bottom panel shows the difference between data and models from the $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M=0.20`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0`$ prediction. Only the 10 best-observed high-$`z`$ SNe Ia are shown. The average difference between the data and the $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M=0.20`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0`$ prediction is $`0.25`$ mag.

Figure 4 (right): The HZT’s combined constraints from SNe Ia (left) and the position of the first acoustic peak of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) angular power spectrum, based on data available in mid-1998; see Garnavich et al. (1998b). The contours mark the 68.3%, 95.4%, and 99.7% enclosed probability regions. Solid curves correspond to results from the MLCS method; dotted ones are from the $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{15}(B)`$ method; all 16 SNe Ia in Riess et al. (1998b) were used.

Another important constraint on the cosmological parameters could be obtained from measurements of the angular scale of the first acoustic peak of the CMB (e.g., Zaldarriaga, Spergel, & Seljak 1997; Eisenstein, Hu, & Tegmark 1998); the SN Ia and CMB techniques provide nearly complementary information. A stunning result was already available by mid-1998 from existing measurements (e.g., Hancock et al. 1998; Lineweaver & Barbosa 1998): the HZT’s analysis of the SN Ia data in Riess et al. (1998b) demonstrated that $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M+\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0.94\pm 0.26`$ (Figure 4), when the SN and CMB constraints were combined (Garnavich et al. 1998b; see also Lineweaver 1998, Efstathiou et al. 1999, and others).

Somewhat later (June 1999), the SCP published almost identical results, implying an accelerating expansion of the Universe, based on an essentially independent set of 42 high-$`z`$ SNe Ia (Perlmutter et al. 1999). Their data, together with those of the HZT, are shown in Figure 5, and the corresponding confidence contours in the $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ vs. $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M`$ plane are given in Figure 6. This incredible agreement suggested that neither group had made a large, simple blunder; if the result was wrong, the reason must be subtle. Had there been only one team working in this area, it is likely that far fewer astronomers and physicists throughout the world would have taken the result seriously.

Moreover, already in 1998–1999 there was tentative evidence that the “dark energy” driving the accelerated expansion was indeed consistent with the cosmological constant, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. If $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ dominates, then the equation of state of the dark energy should have an index $`w=1`$, where the pressure ($`P`$) and density ($`\rho `$) are related according to $`w=P/(\rho c^2)`$. Garnavich et al. (1998b) and Perlmutter et al. (1999) were able to set an interesting limit, $`w\stackrel{<}{}0.60`$ at the 95% confidence level. However, more high-quality data at $`z0.5`$ are needed to narrow the allowed range, in order to test other proposed candidates for dark energy such as various forms of “quintessence” (e.g., Caldwell, Davé, & Steinhardt 1998).

Although the CMB results appeared reasonably persuasive in 1998–1999, one could argue that fluctuations on different scales had been measured with different instruments, and that suble systematic effects might lead to erroneous conclusions. These fears were dispelled only 1–2 years later, when the more accurate and precise results of the BOOMERANG collaboration were announced (de Bernardis et al. 2000, 2002). Shortly thereafter the MAXIMA collaboration distributed their very similar findings (Hanany et al. 2000; Balbi et al. 2000; Netterfield et al. 2002; see also the TOCO, DASI, and many other measurements). Figure 6 illustrates that the CMB measurements tightly constrain $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{total}}`$ to be close to unity; we appear to live in a flat universe, in agreement with most inflationary models for the early Universe! Combined with the SN Ia results, the evidence for nonzero $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ was fairly strong. Making the argument even more compelling was the fact that various studies of clusters of galaxies (see summary by Bahcall et al. 1999) showed that $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M0.3`$, consistent with the results in Figures 4 and 6. Thus, a “concordance cosmology” had emerged: $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M0.3`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }0.7`$ — consistent with what had been suspected some years earlier by Ostriker & Steinhardt (1995; see also Carroll, Press, & Turner 1992).

Figure 5 (left): As in Figure 3, but this time including both the HZT (Riess et al. 1998b) and SCP (Perlmutter et al. 1999) samples of low-redshift and high-redshift SNe Ia. Overplotted are three world models: $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M=0.3`$ and $`1.0`$ with $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0`$, and a flat universe ($`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{total}}=1.0`$) with $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0.7`$. The bottom panel shows the difference between data and models from the $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M=0.3`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0`$ prediction.

Figure 6 (right): The combined constraints from SNe Ia (see Figure 5) and the position of the first acoustic peak of the CMB angular power spectrum, based on BOOMERANG and MAXIMA data. The contours mark the 68.3%, 95.4%, and 99.7% enclosed probability regions determined from the SNe Ia. According to the CMB, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{total}}1.0`$.

Yet another piece of evidence for a nonzero value of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ was provided by the Two-Degree Field Galaxy Redshift Survey (2dFGRS; Peacock et al. 2001; Percival et al. 2001; Efstathiou et al. 2002). Combined with the CMB maps, their results are inconsistent with a universe dominated by gravitating dark matter. Again, the implication is that about 70% of the mass-energy density of the Universe consists of some sort of dark energy whose gravitational effect is repulsive. Very recently, results from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Prove (WMAP) appeared; together with the 2dFGRS constraints, they confirm and refine the concordance cosmology ($`\mathrm{\Omega }_M=0.27`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0.73`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{baryon}}=0.044`$, $`H_0=71\pm 4`$ km s-1 Mpc-1; Spergel et al. 2003).

The dynamical age of the Universe can be calculated from the cosmological parameters. In an empty Universe with no cosmological constant, the dynamical age is simply the “Hubble time” $`t_0`$ (i.e., the inverse of the Hubble constant); there is no deceleration. In the late-1990s, SNe Ia gave $`H_0=65\pm 7`$ km s-1 Mpc-1, and a Hubble time of $`15.1\pm 1.6`$ Gyr. For a more complex cosmology, integrating the velocity of the expansion from the current epoch ($`z=0`$) to the beginning ($`z=\mathrm{}`$) yields an expression for the dynamical age. As shown in detail by Riess et al. (1998b), by mid-1998 the HZT had obtained a value of 14.2$`{}_{0.8}{}^{}{}_{}{}^{+1.0}`$ Gyr (with $`H_0=65`$) using the likely range for $`(\mathrm{\Omega }_M,\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda })`$ that they measured. (The precision was so high because their experiment was sensitive to roughly the difference between $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, and the dynamical age also varies in approximately this way.) Including the systematic uncertainty of the Cepheid distance scale, which may be up to 10%, a reasonable estimate of the dynamical age was $`14.2\pm 1.7`$ Gyr (Riess et al. 1998b). Again, the SCP’s result was very similar (Perlmutter et al. 1999), since it was based on nearly the same derived values for the cosmological parameters. The most recent results, reported by Tonry et al. (2003) and adopting $`H_0=72\pm 8`$ km s-1 Mpc-1, give a dynamical age of $`13.1\pm 1.5`$ Gyr for the Universe — again, in agreement with the WMAP result of $`13.7\pm 0.2`$ Gyr.

This expansion age is also consistent with ages determined from various other techniques such as the cooling of white dwarfs (Galactic disk $`>9.5`$ Gyr; Oswalt et al. 1996), radioactive dating of stars via the thorium and europium abundances ($`15.2\pm 3.7`$ Gyr; Cowan et al. 1997), and studies of globular clusters (10–15 Gyr, depending on whether Hipparcos parallaxes of Cepheids are adopted; Gratton et al. 1997; Chaboyer et al. 1998). The ages of the oldest stars no longer seem to exceed the expansion age of the Universe; the long-standing “age crisis” has evidently been resolved.

## 5 Discussion

Although the convergence of different methods on the same answer is reassuring, and suggests that the concordance cosmology is correct, it is important to vigorously test each method to make sure it is not leading us astray. Moreover, only through such detailed studies will the accuracy and precision of the methods improve, allowing us to eventually set better constraints on the equation of state parameter, $`w`$. Here I discuss the systematic effects that could adversely affect the SN Ia results.

High-redshift SNe Ia are observed to be dimmer than expected in an empty Universe (i.e., $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M=0`$) with no cosmological constant. At $`z0.5`$, where the SN Ia observations have their greatest leverage on $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, the difference in apparent magnitude between an $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M=0.3`$ ($`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0`$) universe and a flat universe with $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0.7`$ is only about 0.25 mag. Thus, we need to find out if chemical abundances, stellar populations, selection bias, gravitational lensing, or grey dust can have an effect this large. Although both the HZT and SCP had considered many of these potential systematic effects in their original discovery papers (Riess et al. 1998b; Perlmutter et al. 1999), and had shown with reasonable confidence that obvious ones were not greatly affecting their conclusions, if was of course possible that they were wrong, and that the data were being misinterpreted.

### 5.1 Evolution

Perhaps the most obvious possible culprit is evolution of SNe Ia over cosmic time, due to changes in metallicity, progenitor mass, or some other factor. If the peak luminosity of SNe Ia were lower at high redshift, then the case for $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }>0`$ would weaken. Conversely, if the distant explosions are more powerful, then the case for acceleration strengthens. Theorists are not yet sure what the sign of the effect will be, if it is present at all; different assumptions lead to different conclusions (Höflich et al. 1998; Umeda et al. 1999; Nomoto et al. 2000; Yungelson & Livio 2000).

Of course, it is extremely difficult, if not effectively impossible, to obtain an accurate, independent measure of the peak luminosity of high-$`z`$ SNe Ia, and hence to directly test for luminosity evolution. However, we can more easily determine whether other observable properties of low-$`z`$ and high-$`z`$ SNe Ia differ. If they are all the same, it is more probable that the peak luminosity is constant as well — but if they differ, then the peak luminosity might also be affected (e.g., Höflich et al. 1998). Drell, Loredo, & Wasserman (2000), for example, argue that there are reasons to suspect evolution, because the average properties of existing samples of high-$`z`$ and low-$`z`$ SNe Ia seem to differ (e.g., the high-$`z`$ SNe Ia are more uniform).

The local sample of SNe Ia displays a weak correlation between light curve shape (or peak luminosity) and host galaxy type, in the sense that the most luminous SNe Ia with the broadest light curves only occur in late-type galaxies. Both early-type and late-type galaxies provide hosts for dimmer SNe Ia with narrower light curves (Hamuy et al. 1996a). The mean luminosity difference for SNe Ia in late-type and early-type galaxies is $`0.3`$ mag. In addition, the SN Ia rate per unit luminosity is almost twice as high in late-type galaxies as in early-type galaxies at the present epoch (Cappellaro et al. 1997). These results may indicate an evolution of SNe Ia with progenitor age. Possibly relevant physical parameters are the mass, metallicity, and C/O ratio of the progenitor (Höflich et al. 1998).

We expect that the relation between light curve shape and peak luminosity that applies to the range of stellar populations and progenitor ages encountered in the late-type and early-type hosts in our nearby sample should also be applicable to the range we encounter in our distant sample. In fact, the range of age for SN Ia progenitors in the nearby sample is likely to be larger than the change in mean progenitor age over the 4–6 Gyr lookback time to the high-$`z`$ sample. Thus, to first order at least, our local sample should correct the distances for progenitor or age effects.

Figure 7 (left): Spectral comparison (in $`f_\lambda `$) of SN 1998ai ($`z=0.49`$; Keck spectrum) with low-redshift ($`z<0.1`$) SNe Ia at a similar age ($`5`$ days before maximum brightness), from Riess et al. (1998b). The spectra of the low-redshift SNe Ia were resampled and convolved with Gaussian noise to match the quality of the spectrum of SN 1998ai. Overall, the agreement in the spectra is excellent, tentatively suggesting that distant SNe Ia are physically similar to nearby SNe Ia. SN 1994B ($`z=0.09`$) differs the most from the others, and was included as a “decoy.”

Figure 8 (right): Heavily smoothed spectra of two high-$`z`$ SNe (SN 1999ff at $`z=0.455`$ and SN 1999fv at $`z=1.19`$; quite noisy below $``$3500 Å) are presented along with several low-$`z`$ SN Ia spectra (SNe 1989B, 1992A, and 1981B), a SN Ib spectrum (SN 1993J), and a SN Ic spectrum (SN 1994I); see Filippenko (1997) for a discussion of spectra of various types of SNe. The date of the spectra relative to $`B`$-band maximum is shown in parentheses after each object’s name. Specific features seen in SN 1999ff and labeled with a letter are discussed by Coil et al. (2000). This comparison shows that the two high-$`z`$ SNe are most likely SNe Ia.

We can place empirical constraints on the effect that a change in the progenitor age would have on our SN Ia distances by comparing subsamples of low-redshift SNe Ia believed to arise from old and young progenitors. In the nearby sample, the mean difference between the distances for the early-type hosts (8 SNe Ia) and late-type hosts (19 SNe Ia), at a given redshift, is 0.04 $`\pm `$ 0.07 mag from the MLCS method. This difference is consistent with zero. Even if the SN Ia progenitors evolved from one population at low redshift to the other at high redshift, we still would not explain the surplus in mean distance of 0.25 mag over the $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0`$ prediction. Moreover, in a major study of high-redshift SNe Ia as a function of galaxy morphology, the SCP found no clear differences (except for the amount of scatter; see §5.2) between the cosmological results obtained with SNe Ia in late-type and early-type galaxies (Sullivan et al. 2003).

It is also reassuring that initial comparisons of high-$`z`$ SN Ia spectra appear remarkably similar to those observed at low redshift. For example, the spectral characteristics of SN 1998ai ($`z=0.49`$) appear to be essentially indistinguishable from those of normal low-$`z`$ SNe Ia; see Figure 7. In fact, the most obviously discrepant spectrum in this figure is the second one from the top, that of SN 1994B ($`z=0.09`$); it is intentionally included as a “decoy” that illustrates the degree to which even the spectra of nearby, relatively normal SNe Ia can vary. Nevertheless, it is important to note that a dispersion in luminosity (perhaps 0.2 mag) exists even among the other, more normal SNe Ia shown in Figure 7; thus, our spectra of SN 1998ai and other high-$`z`$ SNe Ia are not yet sufficiently good for independent, precise determinations of peak luminosity from spectral features (Nugent et al. 1995). Many of them, however, are sufficient for ruling out other SN types (Figure 8), or for identifying gross peculiarities such as those shown by SNe 1991T and 1991bg; see Coil et al. (2000).

We can help verify that the SNe at $`z0.5`$ being used for cosmology do not belong to a subluminous population of SNe Ia by examining restframe $`I`$-band light curves. Normal, nearby SNe Ia show a pronounced second maximum in the $`I`$ band about a month after the first maximum and typically about 0.5 mag fainter (e.g., Ford et al. 1993; Suntzeff 1996). Subluminous SNe Ia, in contrast, do not show this second maximum, but rather follow a linear decline or show a muted second maximum (Filippenko et al. 1992a). As discussed by Riess et al. (2000), tentative evidence for the second maximum is seen from the HZT’s existing $`J`$-band (restframe $`I`$-band) data on SN 1999Q ($`z=0.46`$); see Figure 10. Additional tests with spectra and near-infrared light curves are currently being conducted.

Another way of using light curves to test for possible evolution of SNe Ia is to see whether the rise time (from explosion to maximum brightness) is the same for high-redshift and low-redshift SNe Ia; a difference might indicate that the peak luminosities are also different (Höflich et al. 1998). Riess et al. (1999c) measured the risetime of nearby SNe Ia, using data from KAIT, the Beijing Astronomical Observatory (BAO) SN search, and a few amateur astronomers. Though the exact value of the risetime is a function of peak luminosity, for typical low-redshift SNe Ia it is $`20.0\pm 0.2`$ days. Riess et al. (1999b) pointed out that this differs by $`5.8\sigma `$ from the preliminary risetime of $`17.5\pm 0.4`$ days reported in conferences by the SCP (Goldhaber et al. 1998a,b; Groom 1998). However, more thorough analyses of the SCP data (Aldering, Knop, & Nugent 2000; Goldhaber et al. 2001) show that the high-redshift uncertainty of $`\pm 0.4`$ days that the SCP originally reported was much too small because it did not account for systematic effects. The revised discrepancy with the low-redshift risetime is about $`2\sigma `$ or less. Thus, the apparent difference in risetimes might be insignificant. Even if the difference is real, however, its relevance to the peak luminosity is unclear; the light curves may differ only in the first few days after the explosion, and this could be caused by small variations in conditions near the outer part of the exploding white dwarf that are inconsequential at the peak.

Figure 9: The MLCS fit (Riess et al. 1998b; left panel) and the stretch method fit (Perlmutter et al. 1999; right panel) for SN 2000cx. The MLCS fit is the worst we had ever seen through 2000. For the stretch method fit, the solid line is the fit to all the data points from $`t`$ = $``$8 to 32 days, the dash-dotted line uses only the premaximum datapoints, and the dashed line only the postmaximum datapoints. The three fits give very different stretch factors. From Li et al. (2001a).

Although there are no clear signs that cosmic evolution of SNe Ia seriously compromises our results, it is wise to remain vigilant for possible problems. At low redshifts, for example, we already know that some SNe Ia don’t conform with the correlation between light curve shape and luminosity. SN 2000cx in the S0 galaxy NGC 524, for example, has light curves that cannot be fit well by any of the fitting techniques currently available (Li et al. 2001a; Filippenko 2003); see Figure 9. Its late-time color is remarkably blue, inconsistent with the homogeneity described by Phillips et al. (1999). The spectral evolution of SN 2000cx is peculiar as well: the photosphere appears to have remained hot for a long time, and both iron-peak and intermediate-mass elements move at very high velocities. An even more peculiar object is SN 2002cx (Li et al. 2003; Filippenko 2003). It is spectroscopically bizarre, with extremely low expansion velocities and almost no evidence for intermediate-mass elements. The nebular phase was reached incredibly soon after maximum brightness, despite the low velocity of the ejecta, suggesting that the ejected mass is small. SN 2002cx was subluminous by $`2`$ mag at all optical wavelengths relative to normal SNe Ia, despite the early-time spectroscopic resemblance to the somewhat overluminous SN 1991T. The $`R`$-band and $`I`$-band light curves of SN 2002cx are completely unlike those of normal SNe Ia. No existing theoretical model successfully explains all observed aspects of SN 2002cx. If there are more strange beasts like SNe 2000cx and 2002cx at high redshifts than at low redshifts, systematic errors may creep into the analysis of high-$`z`$ SNe Ia.

### 5.2 Extinction

Our SN Ia distances have the important advantage of including corrections for interstellar extinction occurring in the host galaxy and the Milky Way. Extinction corrections based on the relation between SN Ia colors and luminosity improve distance precision for a sample of nearby SNe Ia that includes objects with substantial extinction (Riess et al. 1996a); the scatter in the Hubble diagram is much reduced. Moreover, the consistency of the measured Hubble flow from SNe Ia with late-type and early-type hosts (see §5.1) shows that the extinction corrections applied to dusty SNe Ia at low redshift do not alter the expansion rate from its value measured from SNe Ia in low-dust environments.

In practice, the high-redshift SNe Ia generally appear to suffer very little extinction; their $`BV`$ colors at maximum brightness are normal, suggesting little color excess due to reddening. The most detailed available study is that of the SCP (Sullivan et al. 2003): they found that the scatter in the Hubble diagram is minimal for SNe Ia in early-type host galaxies, but increases for SNe Ia in late-type galaxies. Moreover, on average the SNe in late-type galaxies are slightly fainter (by $`0.14\pm 0.09`$ mag) than those in early-type galaxies. Finally, at peak brightness the colors of SNe Ia in late-type galaxies are marginally redder than those in early-type galaxies. Sullivan et al. (2003) conclude that extinction by dust in the host galaxies of SNe Ia is one of the major sources of scatter in the high-redshift Hubble diagram. By restricting their sample to SNe Ia in early-type host galaxies (presumably with minimal extinction), they obtain a very tight Hubble diagram that suggests a nonzero value for $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ at the $`5\sigma `$ confidence level, under the assumption that $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{total}}=1`$. In the absence of this assumption, SNe Ia in early-type hosts still imply that $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }>0`$ at nearly the 98% confidence level. The results for $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ with SNe Ia in late-type galaxies are quantitatively similar, but statistically less secure because of the larger scatter.

Riess, Press, & Kirshner (1996b) found indications that the Galactic ratios between selective absorption and color excess are similar for host galaxies in the nearby ($`z0.1`$) Hubble flow. Yet, what if these ratios changed with lookback time (e.g., Aguirre 1999a)? Could an evolution in dust-grain size descending from ancestral interstellar “pebbles” at higher redshifts cause us to underestimate the extinction? Large dust grains would not imprint the reddening signature of typical interstellar extinction upon which our corrections necessarily rely.

However, viewing our SNe through such gray interstellar grains would also induce a dispersion in the derived distances. Using the results of Hatano, Branch, & Deaton (1998), Riess et al. (1998b) estimate that the expected dispersion would be 0.40 mag if the mean gray extinction were 0.25 mag (the value required to explain the measured MLCS distances without a cosmological constant). This is significantly larger than the 0.21 mag dispersion observed in the high-redshift MLCS distances. Furthermore, most of the observed scatter is already consistent with the estimated statistical errors, leaving little to be caused by gray extinction. Nevertheless, if we assumed that all of the observed scatter were due to gray extinction, the mean shift in the SN Ia distances would be only 0.05 mag. With the existing observations, it is difficult to rule out this modest amount of gray interstellar extinction.

Figure 10 (left): Restframe $`I`$-band (observed $`J`$-band) light curve of SN 1999Q ($`z=0.46`$, 5 solid points; Riess et al. 2000), and the $`I`$-band light curves of several nearby SNe Ia. Subluminous SNe Ia exhibit a less prominent second maximum than do normal SNe Ia.

Figure 11 (right): Color excess, $`E_{BI}`$, for SN 1999Q and different dust models (Riess et al. 2000). The data are most consistent with no dust and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }>0`$.

Gray intergalactic extinction could dim the SNe without either telltale reddening or dispersion, if all lines of sight to a given redshift had a similar column density of absorbing material. The component of the intergalactic medium with such uniform coverage corresponds to the gas clouds producing Lyman-$`\alpha `$ forest absorption at low redshifts. These clouds have individual H I column densities less than about $`10^{15}\mathrm{cm}^2`$ (Bahcall et al. 1996). However, they display low metallicities, typically less than 10% of solar. Gray extinction would require larger dust grains which would need a larger mass in heavy elements than typical interstellar grain size distributions to achieve a given extinction. It is possible that large dust grains are blown out of galaxies by radiation pressure, and are therefore not associated with Lyman-$`\alpha `$ clouds (Aguirre 1999b).

But even the dust postulated by Aguirre (1999a,b) and Aguirre & Haiman (1999) is not completely gray, having a size of about 0.1 $`\mu `$m. We can test for such nearly gray dust by observing high-redshift SNe Ia over a wide wavelength range to measure the color excess it would introduce. If $`A_V=0.25`$ mag, then $`E(UI)`$ and $`E(BI)`$ should be 0.12–0.16 mag (Aguirre 1999a,b). If, on the other hand, the 0.25 mag faintness is due to $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, then no such reddening should be seen. This effect is measurable using proven techniques; so far, with just one SN Ia (SN 1999Q; Figure 11), our results favor the no-dust hypothesis to better than 2$`\sigma `$ (Riess et al. 2000). More work along these lines is in progress.

### 5.3 The Smoking Gun

Suppose, however, that for some reason the dust is very gray, or our color measurements are not sufficiently precise to rule out Aguirre’s (or other) dust. Or, perhaps some other astrophysical systematic effect is fooling us, such as possible evolution of the white dwarf progenitors (e.g., Höflich et al. 1998; Umeda et al. 1999), or gravitational lensing (Wambsganss, Cen, & Ostriker 1998). The most decisive test to distinguish between $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and cumulative systematic effects is to examine the deviation of the observed peak magnitude of SNe Ia from the magnitude expected in the low-$`\mathrm{\Omega }_M`$, zero-$`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ model. If $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is positive, the deviation should actually begin to decrease at $`z1`$; we will be looking so far back in time that the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ effect becomes small compared with $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M`$, and the Universe is decelerating at that epoch. If, on the other hand, a systematic bias such as gray dust or evolution of the white dwarf progenitors is the culprit, we expect that the deviation of the apparent magnitude will continue growing, unless the systematic bias is set up in such an unlikely way as to mimic the effects of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ (Drell et al. 2000). A turnover, or decrease of the deviation of apparent magnitude at high redshift, can be considered the “smoking gun” of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$.

In a wonderful demonstration of good luck and hard work, Riess et al. (2001) report on HST observations of a probable SN Ia at $`z1.7`$ (SN 1997ff, the most distant SN ever observed) that suggest the expected turnover is indeed present, providing a tantalizing glimpse of the epoch of deceleration. (See also Benítez et al. 2002, which corrects the observed magnitude of SN 1997ff for gravitational lensing.) SN 1997ff was discovered by Gilliland & Phillips (1998) in a repeat HST observation of the Hubble Deep Field–North, and serendipitously monitored in the infrared with HST/NICMOS. The peak apparent SN brightness is consistent with that expected in the decelerating phase of the concordance cosmological model, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M0.3`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }0.7`$ (Figure 12). It is inconsistent with gray dust or simple luminosity evolution, when combined with the data for SNe Ia at $`z0.5`$. On the other hand, it is wise to remain cautious: the error bars are large, and it is always possible that we are being fooled by this single object. The HZT and SCP currently have programs to find and measure more SNe Ia at such high redshifts. For example, SN candidates at very high redshifts (e.g., Giavalisco et al. 2002) have been found by “piggybacking” on the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS) being conducted with the Advanced Camera for Surveys aboard HST; see Figure 13.

Figure 12: Hubble diagram for SNe Ia relative to an empty universe ($`\mathrm{\Omega }=0`$) compared with cosmological and astrophysical models (Riess et al. 2001). Low-redshift SNe Ia are from Hamuy et al. (1996a) and Riess et al. (1999a). The magnitude of SN 1997ff at $`z=1.7`$ has been corrected for gravitational lensing (Benítez et al. 2002). The measurements of SN 1997ff are inconsistent with astrophysical effects that could mimic previous evidence for an accelerating universe from SNe Ia at $`z0.5`$.

Figure 13: SN 2002hp, a high-redshift supernova from the GOODS program using HST. One can see it brightening and subsequently fading with time. The assumed host galaxy is at the top of each frame.

Less ambitious programs, concentrating on SNe Ia at $`z\stackrel{>}{}0.8`$, have already been completed (HZT: Tonry et al. 2003) or are nearing completion (SCP). Tonry et al. (2003) measured several SNe Ia at $`z1`$, and their deviation of apparent magnitude from the low-$`\mathrm{\Omega }_M`$, zero-$`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ model is roughly the same as that at $`z0.5`$ (Figure 14), in agreement with expectations based on the results of Riess et al. (2001). Moreover, the new sample of high-redshift SNe Ia presented by Tonry et al., analyzed with methods distinct from (but similar to) those used previously, confirm the result of Riess et al. (1998b) and Perlmutter et al. (1999) that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating.

Figure 14: The new Tonry et al. (2003) data and other data points are shown in a residual Hubble diagram: apparent magnitude difference between the expected magnitude in an empty universe and the observed magnitude of SNe Ia at each redshift. The highlighted points correspond to median values in eight redshift bins. From top to bottom the curves show $`(\mathrm{\Omega }_M,\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda })=(0.3,0.7)`$, (0.3,0.0), and (1.0,0.0), respectively.

Figure 15: From Tonry et al. (2003), the probability contours for $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ versus $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M`$ are shown at $`1\sigma `$, $`2\sigma `$, and $`3\sigma `$ \[assuming $`w=1`$, where $`w=P/(\rho c^2)`$\]. Also shown are the corresponding contours when a prior of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_Mh=0.20\pm 0.03`$ (where $`H_0=100h`$ km s-1 Mpc-1) is adopted from the 2dFGRS (Percival et al. 2001). These constraints use the full sample of 172 SNe Ia with $`z>0.01`$ and $`A_V<0.5`$ mag.

By combining all of the available data sets, Tonry et al. (2003) are able to use about 200 SNe Ia, obtaining an incredibly firm detection of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }>0`$ (Figure 15). They place the following constraints on cosmological quantities: (1) If the equation of state parameter of the dark energy is $`w=1`$, then $`H_0t_0=0.96\pm 0.04`$, and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }1.4\mathrm{\Omega }_M=0.35\pm 0.14.`$ (2) Including the constraint of a flat universe, they find that $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M=0.28\pm 0.05`$, independent of any large-scale structure measurements. (3) Adopting a prior based on the 2dFGRS constraint on $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M`$ (Percival et al. 2001) and assuming a flat universe, they derive that $`1.48<w<0.72`$ at 95% confidence. (4) Adopting the 2dFGRS results, they find $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M=0.28`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0.72`$, independent of any assumptions about $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{total}}`$. These constraints are similar in precision and in value to very recent conclusions reported using WMAP (Spergel et al. 2003), also in combination with the 2dFGRS. Complete details on the SN Ia results can be found in Tonry et al. (2003).

### 5.4 Measuring the Dark Energy Equation of State

Every energy component in the Universe can be parameterized by the way its density varies as the Universe expands (scale factor $`a`$), with $`\rho a^{3(1+w)}`$, and $`w`$ reflects the component’s equation of state, $`w=P/(\rho c^2)`$, where $`P`$ is the pressure exerted by the component. So for matter, $`w=0`$, while an energy component that does not vary with scale factor has $`w=1`$, as in the cosmological constant $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. Some really strange energies may have $`w<1`$: their density increases with time (Carroll, Hoffman, & Trodden 2003)! Clearly, a good estimate of $`w`$ becomes the key to differentiating between models.

The CMB observations imply that the geometry of the universe is close to flat, so the energy density of the dark component is simply related to the matter density by $`\mathrm{\Omega }_x=1\mathrm{\Omega }_M`$. This allows the luminosity distance as a function of redshift to be written as

$$D_L(z)=\frac{c(1+z)}{H_0}_0^z\frac{[1+\mathrm{\Omega }_x((1+\mathrm{z})^{3w}1)]^{1/2}}{(1+\mathrm{z})^{3/2}}\mathrm{dz},$$

showing that the dark energy density and equation of state directly influence the apparent brightness of standard candles. As demonstrated graphically in Figure 16, SNe Ia observed over a wide range of redshifts can constrain the dark energy parameters to a cosmologically interesting accuracy.

But there are two major problems with using SNe Ia to measure $`w`$. First, systematic uncertainties in SN Ia peak luminosity limit how well $`D_L(z)`$ can be measured. While statistical uncertainty can be arbitrarily reduced by finding thousands of SNe Ia, intrinsic SN properties such as evolution and progenitor metallicity, and observational limits like photometric calibrations and K-corrections, create a systematic floor that cannot be decreased by sheer force of numbers. We expect that systematics can be controlled to at best 3%, with considerable effort.

Second, SNe at $`z>1.0`$ are very hard to discover and study from the ground. As discussed above, both the HZT and the SCP have found a few SNe Ia at $`z>1.0`$, but the numbers and quality of these light curves are insufficient for a $`w`$ measurement. Large numbers of SNe Ia at $`z>1.0`$ are best left to a wide-field optical/infrared imager in space, such as the proposed Supernova/ Acceleration Probe (SNAP; Nugent et al. 2000) satellite.

Fortunately, an interesting measurement of $`w`$ can be made at present. The current values of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M`$ from many methods (most recently WMAP: 0.27; Spergel et al. 2003) make an excellent substitute for those expensive SNe at $`z>1.0`$. Figure 16 shows that a SN Ia sample with a maximum redshift of $`z=0.8`$, combined with the current 10% error on $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M`$, will do as well as a SN Ia sample at much higher redshifts. Within a few years, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and WMAP will solidify the estimate of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M`$ and sharpen $`w`$ further.

Figure 16 (left): Constraints on $`\mathrm{\Omega }_x`$ and $`w`$ from SN data sets collected at $`z=0.2`$ (solid lines), $`z=0.7`$ (dashed lines), and $`z=1.6`$ (dash-dot lines). The shaded area indicates how an independent estimate of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M`$ with a 10% error can help constrain $`w`$.

Figure 17 (right): Expected constraints on $`w`$ with the desired final ESSENCE data set of 200 SNe Ia, 30 of which (in the redshift range $`0.6<z<0.8`$) are to be observed with HST. The thin lines are for SNe alone while the thick lines assume an uncertainty in $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M`$ of 7%. The final ESSENCE data will constrain the value of $`w`$ to $``$10%.

Both the SCP and the HZT are involved in multi-year programs to discover and monitor hundreds of SNe Ia for the purpose of measuring $`w`$. For example, the HZT’s project, ESSENCE (Equation of State: SupErNovae trace Cosmic Expansion), is designed to discover 200 SNe Ia evenly distributed in the $`0.2<z<0.8`$ range. The CTIO 4-m telescope and mosaic camera are being used to find and follow the SNe by imaging on every other dark night for several consecutive months of the year. Keck and other large telescopes are being used to get the SN spectra and redshifts. Project ESSENCE will eventually provide an estimate of $`w`$ to an accuracy of $``$10% (Figure 17).

Farther in the future, large numbers of SNe Ia to be found by the SNAP satellite and the Large-area Synoptic Survey Telescope (the “Dark Matter Telescope”; Tyson & Angel 2001) could reveal whether the value of $`w`$ depends on redshift, and hence should give additional constraints on the nature of the dark energy. High-redshift surveys of galaxies such as DEEP2 (Davis et al. 2001), as well as space-based missions to map the CMB (Planck), should provide additional evidence for (or against) $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. Observational cosmology promises to remain exciting for quite some time!

## 6 Acknowledgements

I am grateful to N. Breton, J. Cervantes, and M. Salgado — the organizers of the Fifth Mexican School on Gravitation and Mathematical Physics, “The Early Universe and Observational Cosmology” — for the invitation to speak, for travel support to a beautiful setting, and for their patience while I wrote this review. I thank all of my HZT collaborators for their contributions to our team’s research, and members of the SCP for their seminal complementary work on the accelerating Universe. My group’s work at U.C. Berkeley has been supported by NSF grants AST–9987438 and AST–0206329, as well as by grants GO–7505, GO/DD–7588, GO–8177, GO–8641, GO–9118, and GO–9352 from the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5–26555. Many spectra of high-redshift SNe were obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and NASA; the observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation. KAIT has received donations from Sun Microsystems, Inc., the Hewlett-Packard Company, AutoScope Corporation, Lick Observatory, the National Science Foundation, the University of California, and the Sylvia and Jim Katzman Foundation.


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# Coherence Time of a Solid-State Nuclear Qubit

Currently at \] Max-Planck-Insitut für Festkörperforschung, D-70569, Stuttgart, Germany. Also at \]National Institute of Informatics, Tokyo, Japan.

## Abstract

We report NMR experiments using high-power, RF decoupling techniques to show that a $`{}_{}{}^{29}\text{Si}`$ nuclear spin qubit in a solid silicon crystal at room temperature can preserve quantum phase for $`10^9`$ precessional periods. The coherence times we report are longer than for any other observed solid-state qubit by more than four orders of magnitude. In high quality crystals, these times are limited by residual dipolar couplings and can be further improved by isotopic depletion. In defect-heavy samples, we provide evidence for decoherence limited by $`1/f`$ noise. These results provide insight toward proposals for solid-state nuclear-spin-based quantum memories and quantum computers based on silicon.

Quantum information processing devices outperform their classical counterparts by preserving and exploiting the correlated phases of their constituent quantum oscillators, which are usually two-state systems called “qubits.” An increasing number of theoretical proposals have shown that such devices allow secure long-distance communication and improved computational power Nielsen and Chuang (2000). Solid-state implementations of these devices are favored for reasons of both scalability and integration with existing hardware, although previous experiments have shown limited coherence times for solid-state qubits. The development of quantum error correcting codes sho  and fault tolerant quantum computation Shor (1996) showed that large-scale quantum algorithms are still theoretically possible in the presence of decoherence. However, the coherence time must be dauntingly long: approximately $`10^5`$ times the duration of a single quantum gate, and probably longer depending on the quantum computer architecture Nielsen and Chuang (2000). The question of whether a scalable implementation can surpass this coherence threshold is not only important for the technological future of quantum computation, but also for fundamental understanding of the border between microscopic quantum behavior and macroscopic classical behavior.

Experimentally observed coherence times ($`T_2`$) for various qubit implementations are shown in Table 1. The atomic systems shown — trapped ions and molecular nuclei in liquid solution — have already been employed for small quantum algorithms S. Gulde et al. (2003); L. M. K. Vandersypen et al. (2001); not coincidentally, they show very high values of $`Q`$, the product of the qubit frequency $`\omega _0/2\pi `$ and $`\pi T_2`$. Most solid-state qubits show smaller values of $`Q`$; as we demonstrate in this Letter, however, the long coherence times we observe in solid-state $`{}_{}{}^{29}\text{Si}`$ nuclei afford them a $`Q`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }T_2`$ as high or higher than atomic systems, indicating this system’s promise for solid-state quantum computing.

Many promising qubits and coherence time measurements are not mentioned in Table 1 either because reliable experimental data are not available, or because the existing experimental data are taken under conditions not sufficiently similar to the corresponding quantum computer architecture. For example, electron spins bound to phosphorous donors in pure, isotopically depleted silicon also show promisingly long coherence times Tyryshkin et al. (2003). However, quantum computer architectures employing semiconductor electron qubits Loss and DiVincenzo (1998); R. Vrijen et al. (2000) require semiconductor alloying and metallic nanostructures for wave-function engineering. These additions, rather than bulk phenomena, are likely to dominate decoherence for these qubits. Likewise, Kane has proposed an architecture for silicon-based quantum computing in which embedded $`{}_{}{}^{31}\text{P}`$ *nuclear* spins are cooled, controlled, and measured with the engineered wave functions of donor electrons Kane (1998). Charge fluctuations couple to the nuclei via the hyperfine interaction, leading to a nuclear decoherence source not necessarily observed in bulk experiments. However, we believe that bulk solid-state nuclei such as those studied here can be used for quantum computing without strongly perturbing their local environment. Reference T.D. Ladd et al., 2002 shows one possible architecture for quantum computing in nearly-pure, bulk crystalline silicon, motivating our measurements to explore limits in the coherence time of bulk $`{}_{}{}^{29}\text{Si}`$ nuclei.

The qubit in this study is a thermal ensemble of $`N`$ $`{}_{}{}^{29}\text{Si}`$ nuclei, which are spin-1/2, in a single crystal of silicon. All other isotopes of silicon are spin-0. If the $`{}_{}{}^{29}\text{Si}`$ nuclei were uncoupled and controlled by identical magnetic fields, the system would have only two accessible degenerate energy levels. However, the dipolar coupling lifts the degeneracy and takes superpositions of the two qubit states into much larger, entangled superpositions of all the $`2^N`$ available states. These dynamics are nearly independent of temperature. The qubit information is not completely lost by this dipolar scrambling, since information only leaks from the $`2^N`$ nuclear states to the lattice on a timescale much slower than the dipolar dynamics. The quantum information can be “refocussed” by decoupling pulse sequences such as WAHUHA Waugh et al. (1968) and its offspring, which periodically reverse the dipolar evolution, extending $`T_2`$ by several orders of magnitude.

The nuclear dynamics during such sequences are usually described using average Hamiltonian theory (AHT), in which the effects of the periodic RF field on the system Hamiltonian are expanded in powers of $`t_\text{c}`$, the sequence period Mehring (1983). The system Hamiltonian for a nuclear dipolar solid in the rotating frame may be written as

$$_{}=\underset{j}{}\mathrm{}\omega _jI_j^z\underset{jk}{}D_{jk}\left[𝐈_j𝐈_k3I_j^zI_k^z\right],$$
(1)
where $`𝐈_j`$ is the spin vector and $`\omega _j`$ the shift of the Larmor frequency from the RF carrier for the $`j^{\text{th}}`$ nucleus. The dipolar coupling coefficients are $`D_{jk}=\mathrm{}^2\gamma ^2(13\mathrm{cos}^2\theta _{jk})/2r_{jk}^3`$, where $`r_{jk}\mathrm{cos}\theta _{jk}=(𝐫_j𝐫_k)\widehat{z}`$. The values of $`\omega _j`$ and $`D_{jk}`$ are different for each nucleus due to the inhomogeneous magnetic field and the random distribution of the $`{}_{}{}^{29}\text{Si}`$ nuclei in the crystal lattice. The sequence we employ in this study consists of 16 properly phased and separated $`\pi `$/2 pulses, forming MREV-16, a variant of the MREV-8 sequence mre . With perfect pulses, the MREV-8 sequence results in the zero-order average Hamiltonian $`^{(0)}=(1/3)_j\mathrm{}\omega _j(I_j^z\pm I_j^x)`$, where the sign of the $`x`$-component of the effective field depends on the helicity of the sequence. The MREV-16 sequence, shown in Fig. 1, concatenates each helicity leading to $`^{(0)}=_j(\mathrm{}\omega _j/3)I^z`$. Although MREV-16 has reduced spectroscopic resolution over MREV-8, maintaining the effective field in the $`z`$-direction allows easier nuclear control. The inhomogeneous offsets described by $`^{(0)}`$ cause static dephasing, which we periodically refocus by applying $`\pi `$-pulses every 120 cycles of MREV-16. We employ the Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill (CPMG) phase convention to correct for $`\pi `$-pulse errors Meiboom and Gill (1958), as shown in Fig. 1. Such inserted pulses would likewise be employed in a NMR quantum computer for decoupling and recoupling of multiple dipolar-coupled qubits Leung et al. (2000). We note that the CPMG convention changes the sequence according to the initial phase of the nuclear qubit, which is incompatible with the memory of unknown or entangled quantum states. However, more complex NMR techniques such as composite pulses Levitt and Freeman (1981) are known to allow phase-independent pulse correction. The MREV-16 sequence and the observed $`T_2`$ times are otherwise independent of the initial nuclear phase.

The experiments were performed using a 7 T superconducting solenoid NMR magnet (Oxford) and a commercial NMR spectrometer (Tecmag) operating at 59.575 MHz. The probe was homemade, employing variable vacuum capacitors (Jennings) and high-power ceramic capacitors (HEC) to accommodate the pulse powers of approximately 700 W while still allowing flexible tuning for frequency and impedance matching as well as phase transient symmetrization. The RF was detuned about 120 Hz from the center of the nuclear resonance frequency. Pulsed spin locking psl  was observed when $`\pi `$-pulses were applied every 5-10 cycles and in spin-echo experiments without decoupling, but this effect diminished as the $`\pi `$-pulse frequency was reduced. Each echo time-series was taken in a single measurement after thermal equilibration for half to five times $`T_1`$.

As shown in Fig. 1, this combined “CPMG-MREV-16$`\times `$120” sequence allows the observation of hundreds of spin-echoes. In a cylindrical sample of single-crystal silicon with isotopic content 96.9% $`{}_{}{}^{29}\text{Si}`$, the $`T_2`$ due to unrefocussed dipolar-couplings is 450$`\text{ }\mu \text{s}`$ for the  orientation, as reported previously for this sample Verhulst et al. (2003). The CPMG-MREV-16$`\times `$120 sequence extends the coherence time in this sample to nearly 2 seconds. This experiment used a 6 cm-long, 1.5 cm coil wound using 2 mm-diameter wire with variable pitch to improve RF homogeneity. The $`\pi /2`$-pulse duration was 9.6$`\text{ }\mu \text{s}`$ for this coil. In isotopically natural silicon, the coherence time is even longer due to the scarcity of $`{}_{}{}^{29}\text{Si}`$ in the lattice, as $`{}_{}{}^{29}\text{Si}`$ is naturally only 4.7% abundant. We examined a high-quality single-crystal sample (Marketech) with less than $`5\times 10^{13}\text{ cm}^3`$ $`n`$-type impurities. It was cut into a sphere of diameter 1.5 cm and fit tightly in a constant-pitch coil approximately 6 cm long. The $`\pi `$/2-pulse duration was 15$`\text{ }\mu \text{s}`$ for this coil. As shown in Fig. 1, the spin-echoes in this sample last for as long as a minute, showing a $`T_2`$ of $`25.0\pm 0.2\text{ sec}`$.

MREV-16 is expected to reduce the effects of the dipolar coupling to second order in $`t_\text{c}`$ by AHT, even in the presence of pulse errors Mehring (1983). Evidence for this order of reduction comes from the observation that $`T_2`$ increases quadratically as $`t_\text{c}`$ is decreased (Fig. 2). The spin-echo data was analyzed by Fourier-transforming each echo and following the decay of the detuned side-peak, integrated between half-maxima. A center peak at the RF frequency usually appeared in the spectra due in part to ringdown effects and in part to nuclear spin-locking to an effective field, which tips slightly away from the $`z`$-axis in the presence of pulse imperfections. The least-squares fit to a single exponential was always used to extract the value of $`T_2`$. The decrease in $`T_2`$ for small $`t_\text{c}`$ occurs because MREV-16 begins to fail when the ratio of the pulse-width to the time $`\tau `$ between pulses approaches unity Mehring (1983). The maximum $`T_2`$ observed (25 sec) is not a fundamental result; it may be exceeded using higher-order pulse sequences or isotopic depletion.

As the strength of the dipolar coupling is further decreased by isotopic depletion, the dipolar coupling constants $`D_{jk}`$ become much smaller than the frequency offsets $`\omega _j`$. The dominant second-order dipolar average Hamiltonian term leading to decoherence is then the dipolar/offset cross term, which scales as $`^{(2)}t_\text{c}^2|D_{jk}||\omega _j^2|.`$ For isotopic percentage $`p`$ less than about 10%, we would expect $`T_2^1`$ to be proportional to the dipolar coupling constants, which vary as the inverse cube of the distance between $`{}_{}{}^{29}\text{Si}`$ isotopes. Correspondingly, we expect $`T_2^1p`$, approaching $`T_1^1`$ as $`p0`$, indicating that the threshold for fault-tolerant quantum computing could be obtained with reasonably depleted silicon.

We did observe another decoherence mechanism that could appear before the $`T_1`$ limit in real silicon crystals. In a polycrystalline sample with shallow impurity content similar to the single-crystal sample, we found the $`T_2`$ to be limited to a constant value of about 8 seconds, independent of $`t_\text{c}`$ (Fig. 3). We also examined a $`p`$-type single crystal sample with roughly 1-1.5% $`{}_{}{}^{29}\text{Si}`$. This sample was known to contain a substantial number of dislocations in addition to $`5\times 10^{17}\text{ cm}^3`$ aluminum impurities. Although the data were noisy due to the reduced signal, $`T_2`$ was observed to be no longer than this same timescale of 8 seconds, even after 10-fold averaging.

We believe this reduced $`T_2`$ in polycrystalline silicon is due to the same low-frequency noise source that leads to $`1/f`$ noise in silicon wafers sil (a). This noise is attributed to charge traps at lattice defects and other deep impurities, which lead to slow fluctuations of the diamagnetic shielding seen at nearby nuclei. Free carriers and fixed dipolar paramagnetic impurities are unlikely to be responsible for this $`T_2`$, since these lead to isotropic magnetic noise with correlation times much shorter than the Larmor period. It follows that $`T_2`$ due to these sources would be on the same order of magnitude as $`T_1`$, but we measured $`T_1`$ to be nearly 5 hours, consistent with earlier studies sil (b). The elimination of $`1/f`$ noise from oxides and interfaces poses a critical fabrication challenge in quantum computing designs based on semiconductor impurities Kane (1998); R. Vrijen et al. (2000) and Josephson junctions mol ; mss ; yhc , but this noise is expected to be very small in high-quality bulk single-crystal silicon at low temperature.

Decoupling pulse sequences have been proposed for nuclear memory in high mobility GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures Taylor et al. (2003). We caution that the large RF power required to effectively decouple the ubiquitous nuclear spins in this system may be inconsistent with millikelvin operation, even if small, high-$`Q`$ coils and low power, windowless sequences Burum et al. (1981) are employed. For this reason, we believe isotopically depleted silicon to be a more promising material for nuclear quantum memory, assuming that efficient methods for transferring quantum information to and from its well-isolated nuclei can be found.

This study was sponsored by the DARPA-QuIST program. T.D.L. was supported by the Fannie and John Hertz Foundation. We acknowledge N. Khaneja for useful discussions.


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# First results from TOO observations of the Aql X-1 field with INTEGRALBased on observations with INTEGRAL, an ESA project with instruments and science data centre funded by ESA member states (especially the PI countries: Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Spain), Czech Republic and Poland, and with the participation of Russia and the USA.

## 1 Introduction

The hard X-ray emission has long been considered to be a unique property of the Black Hole (BH) binaries. Later, however, it was found that X-ray bursters can also be detected in the hard X-ray band (Barret & Vedrenne 1994; Churazov et al. 1995; Pavlinsky et al. 2001). Moreover, some Neutron Star (NS) binaries are often found in the spectral state with the enhanced X-ray flux (e.g. Zhang et al 1996), which is similar to the so-called low spectral state of Cyg X-1 (Hasinger & van der Klis 1989; Yoshida et al. 1993). The presence of the hard X-ray emission can be plausibly associated with the low accretion rates. Therefore, one can expect transitions between the spectral states in X-ray transients at the beginning of outbursts when the accretion rate increases and at the end of outburst when it decreases until it falls below detectable level (Barret et al. 1996).

The Low Mass X-ray Binary (LMXB) Aql X-1 is ideally suitable for the study of such spectral transitions. It is a well known soft X-ray transient which demonstrates transitions from low to high flux states approximately once a year (see the historical light curve shown in the bottom panel of Fig.1).

The sky region around Aql X-1 contains several other bright X-ray sources because it is projected on the Scutum arm of the Galaxy. One of the most interesting sources in this field is the transient X1901+03, which showed an outburst in January 2003 (Galloway et al. 2003a) for only the second time since 1971 (Forman et al. 1976). During the 2003 outburst, X1901+03 showed coherent pulsations with a period of 2.763 s (Galloway et al. 2003a), therefore this source is an accreting X-ray pulsar in a binary system. Most of remaining sources are either pulsars or black-hole candidates (4U1907+097, XTE J1908+094, X1908+075, SS433, GRS1915+105, etc.) and are likely to be high-mass binaries (Grimm et al. 2002).

In this paper, we present preliminary scientific results from the INTEGRAL observations of the Aql X-1 field in March-April 2003.

## 2 Observations and data reduction

The present dataset was obtained in a campaign of TOO observations of Aql X-1 during its outburst. Six approximately equally spaced (one per five-six days, see Fig.1) observations were carried out from Mar 10 to Apr 13, 2003. Each observation consists of 25 pointings with a $`2`$ ksec exposure, forming a $`5\times 5`$ dithering pattern. The total integration time during this campaign was approximately 300 ks. In this work, we present only results from the Joint European X-ray Monitor (JEM-X, module 2; see Lund et al. 2003) and the upper layer of the Imager on Board INTEGRAL (ISGRI/IBIS; Ubertini et al. 2003). The detailed description of the instruments can be found in these papers, but several main parameters like a field of view (FOV), fully coded field of view (FCFOV), collecting area and energy range are pointed here: $`13.2`$in a diameter, $`4.8`$in a diameter, 500 cm2 and 3-35 keV for JEM-X, and 25$`\times `$25, 9$`\times `$9, 2600 cm2 and 15-300 keV for ISGRI/IBIS, respectively.

Data reduction was performed using the IDAS 1.0 software distributed by the INTEGRAL Science Data Center. This software package at present does not allow one to carry out detailed spectral analysis of the ISGRI data. Therefore, the spectral information for sources in the IBIS field of view (FOV) was obtained from a comparison of their observed pulse height spectra with that of the Crab nebula as measured by INTEGRAL in February, 2003. The analysis of a set of the Crab observations and preliminary analysis of hard X-ray emission from SAX J2103.5+4545 (Lutovinov et al. 2003) have shown that this method provides satisfactory reconstruction of the source spectra and allows one to estimate the main spectral parameters.

Our analysis of the Crab observations has shown a strong dependence of the reconstructed source intensity on the off-axis angle. To reduce this potential source of systematic errors, the spectral analysis of our sources was performed using only the data from the fully coded part of FOV (FCFOV) in the case if at least 20 suitable pointings were available for the source of interest. We estimate the systematic uncertainty of the flux for such data selection to be $``$10-20% at all energies. The instrumental teams independently estimate this uncertainty as at least $``$10%. For the image reconstruction, we used the entire FOV of the IBIS telescope.

We note that at present, systematic uncertainties in the spectral reconstruction dominate the statistical noise. Therefore, the usual reduced $`\chi ^2`$ is not a correct measure of the quality of the applied models. We generally avoid quoting reduced $`\chi ^2`$ for our spectral models.

Examination of the JEM-X data for Crab nebula shows that the current calibration of the instrument response matrix is satisfactory in the 5–20 keV energy range. It was found, however, that while the spectral shape is recovered well, the absolute source fluxes are systematically underestimated. To correct this problem, we renormalized our JEM-X spectra using the absolute fluxes in the 5–12 keV energy band provided by the RXTE All-Sky Monitor simultaneously with the INTEGRAL observations.

## 3 Results

The JEM-X and ISGRI mosaic images reconstructed in the 5–12 and 25–50 keV energy bands for the entire set of the Aql X-1 observations are presented in Fig. 2. These images show that 13 sources were significantly detected in the IBIS FOV, and three of them were also covered by JEM-X. Below, we briefly discuss the properties of some of the observed sources.

### 3.1 Aql X-1

The Aql X-1 sky region was not accessible for observations with INTEGRAL in the beginning of March, 2003, and therefore the rising phase of the source outburst was not covered by INTEGRAL. The observing campaign started on March 10, thus INTEGRAL monitored the outburst from its maximum to decay (Fig.1). The maximum observed fluxes from Aql X-1 were $`600`$ and $`55`$ mCrab in the 5–12 keV and 25–50 keV energy bands, respectively.

Figure 3 shows two combined JEM-X$`+`$ISGRI spectra obtained during the first set of observations when the Aql X-1 flux was highest and during the fifth set of observations when the outburst was near its end. The observed spectra can be fitted with a thermal bremsstrahlung model with temperatures 4.2 and 5.1 keV for the 1st and 5th sets, respectively. The source was undetectable in the 50-100 keV energy band, with an upper limit of 4 mCrab at the 68% confidence level. However, we cannot fully rule out a presence of a faint hard tail in the source spectrum because of the limitations of the current data analysis discussed above. Our estimations on the flux in tail are consist with the source spectrum of an early stage of fast outburst decline measured by BeppoSAX (Campana et al. 1998).

The JEM-X monitor has detected 2 X-ray bursts of type I from the source. The light curve taken from the entire JEM-X detector around the moments of the bursts is shown in the upper panel of Fig.4. The image reconstruction during $`15`$ s time intervals covering the burst shows unambiguously (localization accuracy is $`4^{}`$) that the the bursts originated from Aql X-1 (bottom panel of Fig.4). Both the bursts have light curves typical of the type I X-ray bursts which are considered to be manifestations of the thermonuclear explosions on the surface of a neutron star. Interestingly, both the bursts were detected during the 5th set of observations when source outburst was near its end.

### 3.2 X1901+03

During all the Aql X-1 observations, the High-Mass X-ray Binary pulsar X1901+03 was detected both in the soft (JEM-X) and hard (ISGRI/IBIS) energy bands. The preliminary source position determined with both the telescopes agrees well with the RXTE location (Galloway et al. 2003b).

During our set of observations, the X1901+03 flux in the 25-50 keV energy band decreased gradually from 110 mCrab to 90 mCrab. The combined JEM-X and ISGRI/IBIS source spectrum averaged over the entire set of observations is presented in Fig.5. The spectrum can be fited with a power law + high energy cutoff model, with the photon index $`\mathrm{\Gamma }1.95`$ and the cutoff parameters $`E_{cut}12`$ keV, $`E_{fold}13.5`$ keV. These values are typical for X-ray pulsars. In addition to our observations, there is a long set of observations of this source carried out in May, 2003, kindly made available to us by the PIs of INTEGRAL observations of GRS 1915+105, SS 433 and Ser X-1. The source flux in May 2003 decreased by a factor of 2 relative to that in March, 2003. It would be interesting to trace the spectral evolution of the source during the outburst decay and this analysis is now in progress.

We performed a timing analysis of the X1901+03 JEM-X data. Fourier transforms were computed for those periods in which X1901+03 was in the FCFOV of JEM-X. The coherent pulsations with a frequency of $`0.362`$ Hz were clearly detected along with the second harmonic. This period is consistent with that obtained with RXTE (Galloway et al., 2003a). The period slightly changes from the observation to observation, which may be explained by the orbital motion of the compact object in the binary system. The light curve obtained from the whole JEM-X detector in the 5-15 keV energy band folded with the above pulse period is presented in Fig.6. Unfortunately, we cannot estimate the source pulse fraction because of a lack of accurate measurements of the JEM-X background.

### 3.3 Other sources

As was mentioned above, 13 X-ray sources were detected by the INTEGRAL instruments during the observations of the Aql X-1 field on March-April, 2003 (Fig.2). Several of these sources (GRS1915+105, SS443, Ser X-1, and IGR J19140+098) are subjects of other INTEGRAL proposals and therefore are not discussed here. We present the averaged hard (20–50 keV) X-ray fluxes for the remaining sources in IBIS FOV (Table 1).

Several points are noteworthy: 1) sources fluxes are variable by a factor of a few, but here we quote only the average values; 2) the fluxes were derived assuming that the Crab intensity in the 25–50 keV energy band of ISGRI detector is 130 counts/s; 3) the new transient source IGR J18483-0311 was formally discovered with INTEGRAL on Apr 23-28, 2003 (Chernyakova et al. 2003), but it is also detectable in one of our observations (Apr 5, 2003) with a signal to noise ratio of $`S/N10`$ in the 25-50 keV energy band.

A detailed analysis of the sources in the Aql X-1 field is beyond the scope of this paper. Here we discuss only the preliminary spectral analysis for three sources of different classes – 4U1907+097, XTE J1908+094, and X1908+075. The first of them is a typical X-ray pulsar with the energy spectrum described by a power law with a high energy cutoff. The cyclotron absorption line with several harmonics was detected in the spectrum of this source (Coburn et al. 2002). The second source is a likely black hole candidate with a relatively hard, power law spectrum ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }2`$) without any indication for a high energy cutoff. No pulsations or type I X-ray bursts were observed from XTE J1908+094 (in’t Zand et al. 2002). The nature of the third source, X1908+075, is not yet determined.

The average ISGRI photon spectra of 4U1907+097, XTE J1908+094 and X1908+075 in the 18-100 keV energy band are presented in Fig.7. In all three cases, the spectra can be described well by a power law model with the photon index $`\mathrm{\Gamma }2.1`$ for XTE J1908+094, $`2.9`$ for X1908+075, and $`3.9`$ for 4U1907+097. The spectral slope of XTE J1908+094 is similar to that of other accreting BHs in the low/hard state and the value of its photon index $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is in agreement with the previous results of the BeppoSAX observatory (in’t Zand et al. 2002). The photon index for 4U1907+097 is typical of X-ray pulsars spectra in the hard energy band. We note that this spectrum can be equally well described by the power law + high energy cutoff model. The power law and cutoff parameters cannot be derived independently from the INTEGRAL data due to lack of data below 18 keV. Therefore, we fixed some of the parameters (the photon index $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ and cutoff energy $`E_{cut}`$) at the values obtained by the RXTE observatory and then derived $`E_{fold}10`$ keV, in agreement with the RXTE results $`E_{fold}=9.8\pm 0.6`$ keV (Coburn et al. 2002).

The spectrum of X1908+075 has the intermediate value of the photon index with respect to typical black hole binaries (e.g., XTE J1908+094) and the X-ray pulsars (4U1907+097). No obvious cyclotron features are present in the source spectrum, but they cannot be strongly ruled out because of the limited spectral resolution of the ISGRI instrument. Therefore, the question about the nature of X1908+075 is still open.

## 4 Conclusions

The transient X-ray source Aql X-1 was observed with INTEGRAL during the source outburst in March-April 2003. The observing strategy allowed us to cover almost the entire outburst episode, and therefore investigate the source in the states with different luminosity. The preliminary spectral analysis indicates that the spectrum in the 3-40 keV energy band can be described by a thermal bremsstrahlung model. The source was undetectable in the harder energy band. We observed two X-ray bursts of type I from Aql X-1.

Dozen other sources were detected in the INTEGRAL field of view. We reconstructed the pulse profile and average spectrum of one of the most interesting of these sources, the pulsar X1901+03 (indentified as a pulsar only one month before our observations, see above). The 18-100 keV energy spectra of three other bright sources, XTE J1908+094, X1908+075, and 4U1907+097 can be described by a simple power law model with photon indices of $`23.9`$.

A more detailed analysis of the sources in the Aql X-1 field is in progress.

Acknowledgements. We would like to thank Mike Revnivtsev and Alexey Vikhlinin for very useful discussions and comments. This research has made by using of data obtained through the INTEGRAL Science Data Center (ISDC). This work was supported by RFBR grant 03-02-06772, grants of Minpromnauka NSH-2083.2003.2 and 40.022.1.1.1102, and the program of the Russian Academy of Sciences “Nonstationar phenomena in astronomy”.