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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

Guide field effects on the distribution of plasmoids in multiple scale reconnection

The effects of a finite guide field on the distribution of plasmoids in high-Lundquist-number current sheets undergoing magnetic reconnection in large plasmas are investigated with statistical models. Merging of plasmoids is taken into account either assuming that guide field flux is conserved resulting in nonforce-free profiles in general, or that magnetic helicity is conserved and Taylor relaxation occurs to convert part of the summed guide field flux into reconnecting field flux toward minimum energy states resulting in force-free profiles. It is found that the plasmoid distribution in terms of reconnecting field flux follows a power law with index 7/4 or 1 depending on whether merger frequencies are independent of or dependent on their relative velocity to the outflow speed, respectively. This result is approximately the same for the force-free and nonforce-free models, with nonforce-free models exhibiting indices of 2 and 1 for the same velocity dependencies. Distributions in terms of guide field flux yield indices of 3/2 for the nonforce-free model regardless of velocity dependence. This is notably distinct from the indices of 11/8 and 1 for the force-free models independent of and dependent on velocity, respectively. At low guide field fluxes, the force-free models exhibit a second power law index of 1/2 due to nonconstant flux growth rates. The velocity-dependent force-free model predicts the production of slightly more rapidly moving large guide field flux plasmoids which are supported by observational evidence of flux ropes with strong core fields. Implications are discussed on particle acceleration via Fermi processes.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

The Dark Energy Bedrock All-sky Supernova Program: Cross Calibration, Simulations, and Cosmology Forecasts

Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) have been essential for probing the nature of dark energy; however, most SN analyses rely on the same low-redshift sample, which may lead to shared systematics. In a companion paper, we introduce the Dark Energy Bedrock All-Sky Supernova (DEBASS) program, which has already collected more than 500 low-redshift SNe Ia on the Dark Energy Camera, and present an initial release of 77 SNe Ia within the Dark Energy Survey (DES) footprint observed between 2021 and 2024. Here, we examine the systematics, including photometric calibration and selection effects. We find agreement at the 10 mmag level among the tertiary standard stars of DEBASS, DES, and Pan-STARRS1. Our simulations reproduce the observed distributions of DEBASS SN light-curve properties, and we measure a bias-corrected Hubble residual scatter of 0.08 mag, which, while small, is found in 10% of our simulations. We compare the DEBASS SN distances to the Foundation sample and find consistency with a median residual offset of 0.016 ± 0.019 mag. Selection effects have negligible impacts on distances, but a different photometric calibration solution shifts the median residual −0.015 ± 0.019 mag, highlighting calibration sensitivity. Using conservative simulations, we forecast that replacing historical low-redshift samples with the full DEBASS sample will improve the statistical uncertainties on dark energy parameters w 0 and w a by 30% and 24%, respectively, enhance the dark energy Figure of Merit by up to 60%, and enable a measurement of fσ 8 at the 25% level.

Acevedo, Maria [Duke Univ., Durham, NC (United Sta↗
DOE OSTI2025

PROTOCALC, a W -band Polarized Calibrator for Cosmic Microwave Background Telescopes: Application to Simons Observatory and CLASS

Current- and next-generation cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments will measure polarization anisotropies with unprecedented sensitivities. The need for high precision in these measurements underscores the importance of gaining a comprehensive understanding of instrument properties, with a particular emphasis on the study of the beam properties, and especially their polarization characteristics and the measurement of the polarization angle. In this context, a major challenge lies in the scarcity of millimeter polarized astrophysical sources with sufficient brightness and calibration knowledge to meet the stringent accuracy requirements of future CMB missions. This led to the development of a drone-borne calibration source designed for the frequency band centered on approximately 90 GHz, matching a commonly used channel in ground-based CMB measurements. The Prototype Calibrator for Cosmology, PROTOCALC, has undergone thorough in-lab testing, and its properties have been subsequently modeled through simulation software integrated into the standard Simons Observatory analysis pipeline. Moreover, the PROTOCALC system has been tested in the field, having been deployed twice on calibration campaigns with CMB telescopes in the Atacama Desert. The data collected constrain the roll angle of the source with a statistical accuracy of 0$^°_•$045.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Final SeaQuest Results on the Flavor Asymmetry of the Proton Light-Quark Sea with Proton-Induced Drell-Yan Process

The Fermilab E906/SeaQuest collaboration performed measurements of the Drell-Yan process using 120 GeV proton beams bombarding liquid hydrogen and liquid deuterium targets. A combined analysis of all collected data was performed to obtain the final results for the 𝜎 𝑝⁢𝑑 /2⁢𝜎 𝑝⁢𝑝 Drell-Yan cross section ratio covering the kinematic region of 0.13 < 𝑥 <0.45. The 𝑥 dependencies of $\bar{d}$(𝑥)/$\bar{𝑢}$⁡(𝑥) and $\bar{d}$(𝑥) $-$ $\bar{𝑢}$⁡(𝑥) are extracted from these cross section ratios. It is found that $\bar{d}$(𝑥) is greater than $\bar{𝑢}$⁡(𝑥) over the entire measured 𝑥 range, with improved statistical accuracy compared to previous measurements. The new results on $\bar{d}$(𝑥)/$\bar{𝑢}$⁡(𝑥) and $\bar{d}$(𝑥) $-$ $\bar{𝑢}$⁡(𝑥) are compared to various parton distribution functions and theoretical calculations.

Leung, C. H. [University of Illinois at Urbana-Cha↗
DOE OSTI2025

DESI DR2 results. I. Baryon acoustic oscillations from the Lyman alpha forest

We present the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) measurements with the Lyman-𝛼 (Ly⁢𝛼) forest from the second data release (DR2) of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) survey. Our BAO measurements include both the autocorrelation of the Ly⁢𝛼 forest absorption observed in the spectra of high-redshift quasars and the cross-correlation of the absorption with the quasar positions. The total sample size is approximately a factor of 2 larger than the DR1 dataset, with forest measurements in over 820,000 quasar spectra and the positions of over 1.2 million quasars. We describe several significant improvements to our analysis in this paper, and two supporting papers describe improvements to the synthetic datasets that we use for validation and how we identify damped Ly⁢𝛼 absorbers. Our main result is that we have measured the BAO scale with a statistical precision of 1.1% along and 1.3% transverse to the line of sight, for a combined precision of 0.65% on the isotropic BAO scale at 𝑧 eff =2.33. This excellent precision, combined with recent theoretical studies of the BAO shift due to nonlinear growth, motivated us to include a systematic error term in Ly⁢𝛼 BAO analysis for the first time. We measure the ratios 𝐷 𝐻 ⁡(𝑧 eff )/𝑟 𝑑 = 8.632 ± 0.098 ± 0.026 and 𝐷 𝑀 ⁡(𝑧 eff )/𝑟 𝑑 = 38.99 ± 0.52 ± 0.12, where 𝐷 𝐻 = 𝑐/𝐻⁡(𝑧) is the Hubble distance, 𝐷 𝑀 is the transverse comoving distance, 𝑟 𝑑 is the sound horizon at the drag epoch, and we quote both the statistical and the theoretical systematic uncertainty. The companion paper presents the BAO measurements at lower redshifts from the same dataset and the cosmological interpretation.

baryon acoustic oscillations↗
DOE OSTI2026

Parity-odd four-point correlation function from the DESI data release 1 luminous red galaxy sample

The parity-odd four-point function provides a unique probe of fundamental symmetries and potential new physics in the large-scale structure of the Universe. We present measurements of the parity-odd four-point function using the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) DR1 luminous red galaxy (LRG) sample and assess its detection significance. Our analysis considers both auto- and cross-correlations, using two complementary approaches to the covariance: (i) the full analytic covariance matrix applied to the uncompressed data vector, and (ii) a compressed data vector combined with a hybrid covariance matrix constructed from simulations and analytic estimates. When using the full analytic covariance matrix without corrections, we observe apparent auto-correlation signals with significance up to 4⁢𝜎. However, this excess is also consistent with a mismatch between the statistical fluctuations estimated from the simulations and those present in the real data. Our findings therefore suggest that the parity-odd signal in the current DESI DR1 LRG sample is consistent with zero. We note, however, that the low completeness of this sample may have a non-negligible impact on the detection sensitivity. Future data releases with improved completeness will be crucial for further investigation.

Hou, Jiamin [Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität; Unive↗
DOE OSTI2020

Many-Body Scars as a Group Invariant Sector of Hilbert Space

We present a class of Hamiltonians H for which a sector of the Hilbert space invariant under a Lie group G, which is not a symmetry of H, possesses the essential properties of many-body scar states. These include the absence of thermalization and the “revivals” of special initial states in time evolution. Here, a particular class of examples concerns interacting spin-1/2 fermions on a lattice consisting of N sites (it includes deformations of the Fermi-Hubbard model as special cases), and we show that it contains two families of N + 1 scar states. One of these families, which was found in recent literature, comprises the well-known η-pairing states. We find another family of scar states that is U(N) invariant. Both families and most of the group-invariant scar states produced by our construction, in general, give rise to the off-diagonal long range order, which survives at high temperatures and is insensitive to the details of the dynamics. Such states could be used for reliable quantum information processing because the information is stored nonlocally and thus cannot be easily erased by local perturbations. In contrast, other scar states we find are product states, which could be easily prepared experimentally. The dimension of scar subspace is directly controlled by the choice of group G and can be made exponentially large.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2026

Dark Energy Survey: DESI-independent angular BAO measurement

In this work, we present a measurement of the angular baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) scale from the completed Dark Energy Survey (DES) dataset excluding the area of overlap with the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI). We follow the same methodology and validation process as in the DES Y6 BAO analysis. We interpret the impact of this measurement in the context of the statistical preference for 𝑤 0 ⁢𝑤 𝑎 cold dark matter (CDM) over Λ⁢CDM when combined with DES Y5 Type Ia supernovae (SN), Planck CMB, and DESI BAO. Based on our previous work, using the full Y6 DES BAO sample, in combination with SN, CMB and DESI data release 1 (DR1) BAO, added 0.3⁢𝜎 in this preference (from 3.7⁢𝜎 to 4.0⁢𝜎), but this ignored possible correlations between datasets. Using our new DESI-independent DES BAO likelihood instead, we find a smaller increase in the statistical preference for 𝑤 0 ⁢𝑤 𝑎 ⁢CDM, from 3.7⁢𝜎 to 3.8⁢𝜎 when using DESI DR1 BAO, and from 4.0⁢𝜎 to 4.1⁢𝜎 when updating to the more recent DESI data release 2 (DR2) BAO. These significances reduce to 3.1⁢𝜎 when using the new calibrated DES SN-Dovekie. Alongside this work, we publicly release baofit_wtheta, the BAO fitting code for the angular correlation function used in the DES Y6 BAO analysis.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Deep inference of simulated strong lenses in ground-based surveys

The large number of strong lenses discoverable in future astronomical surveys will likely enhance the value of strong gravitational lensing as a cosmic probe of dark energy and dark matter. However, leveraging the increased statistical power of such large samples will require further development of automated lens modeling techniques. We show that deep learning and simulation-based inference (SBI) methods produce informative and reliable estimates of parameter posteriors for strong lensing systems in ground-based surveys. We present the examination and comparison of two approaches to lens parameter estimation for strong galaxy-galaxy lenses — Neural Posterior Estimation (NPE) and Bayesian Neural Networks (BNNs). We perform inference on 1-, 5-, and 12-parameter lens models for ground-based imaging data that mimics the Dark Energy Survey (DES). We find that NPE outperforms BNNs, producing posterior distributions that are more accurate, precise, and well-calibrated for most parameters. For the 12-parameter NPE model, the calibration is consistently within <10% of optimal calibration for all parameters, while the BNN is rarely within 20% of optimal calibration for any of the parameters. Similarly, residuals for most of the parameters are smaller (by up to an order of magnitude) with the NPE model than the BNN model. This work takes important steps in the systematic comparison of methods for different levels of model complexity.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2026

Probing cosmic velocities with the pairwise kinematic Sunyaev-Zel’dovich signal in DESI Bright Galaxy Sample DR1 and ACT DR6

We present a measurement of the pairwise kinematic Sunyaev-Zel’dovich (kSZ) signal using the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) Bright Galaxy Sample (BGS) Data Release 1 (DR1) galaxy sample overlapping with the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) CMB temperature map. Our analysis makes use of 1.6 million galaxies with stellar masses log⁡ 𝑀 ⋆ /𝑀 ⊙ >10, and we explore measurements across a range of aperture sizes (2.1′ <𝜃 ap <3.5′) and stellar mass selections. This statistic directly probes the velocity field of the large-scale structure, a unique observable of cosmic dynamics and modified gravity. In particular, at low redshifts, this quantity is especially interesting, as deviations from General Relativity are expected to be largest. Notably, our result represents the highest-significance low-redshift (𝑧 ∼ 0.3) detection of the kSZ pairwise effect yet. In our most optimal configuration (𝜃 ap =3.3′, log⁡ 𝑀 ⋆ >11), we achieve a 5⁢𝜎 detection. Assuming that an estimate of the optical depth and galaxy bias of the sample exists via e.g., external observables, this measurement constrains the fundamental cosmological combination 𝐻 0 ⁡𝑓⁡𝜎$^2_8$. A key challenge is the degeneracy with the galaxy optical depth. We address this by combining CMB lensing, which allows us to infer the halo mass and galaxy population properties, with hydrodynamical simulation estimates of the mean optical depth, $\bar{𝜏}$ . We stress that this is a proof-of-concept analysis; with BGS DR2 data we expect to improve the statistical precision by roughly a factor of two, paving the way toward robust tests of modified gravity with kSZ-informed velocity-field measurements at low redshift.

Hadzhiyska, Boryana [Institute of Astronomy; Kavli↗
DOE OSTI2025

Galaxy-multiplet clustering from DESI DR2

We present an efficient estimator for higher-order galaxy clustering using small groups of nearby galaxies, or multiplets. Using the Luminous Red Galaxy (LRG) sample from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) Data Release 2, we identify galaxy multiplets as discrete objects and measure their cross-correlations with the general galaxy field. Our results show that the multiplets exhibit stronger clustering bias as they trace more massive dark matter halos than individual galaxies. When comparing the observed clustering statistics with the mock catalogs generated from the N-body simulation AbacusSummit, we find that the mocks underpredict multiplet clustering despite reproducing the galaxy two-point auto-correlation reasonably well. This discrepancy indicates that the standard Halo Occupation Distribution (HOD) model is insufficient to describe the properties of galaxy multiplets, revealing the greater constraining power of this higher-order statistic on galaxy-halo connection and the possibility that multiplets are specific to additional assembly bias. We demonstrate that incorporating secondary biases into the HOD model improves agreement with the observed multiplet statistics, specifically by allowing galaxies to preferentially occupy halos in denser environments. Our results highlight the potential of utilizing multiplet clustering, beyond traditional two-point correlation measurements, to break degeneracies in models describing the galaxy-dark matter connection.

cosmology↗
DOE OSTI2026

Dark Energy Survey Year 6 results: Galaxy-galaxy lensing

Here, we present galaxy-galaxy lensing measurements from the full six years of data from the Dark Energy Survey (DES Y6), covering 4031 deg 2 and used in the DES Y6 3×2 pt cosmological analysis. We use the Maglim++ lens sample, containing ∼9 million galaxies divided into six redshift bins, and the Metadetection source catalog, including ∼140 million galaxies divided into four redshift bins. The mean tangential shear signal achieves a total signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) of 173, corresponding to a 17% improvement over DES Y3. After applying the scale cuts used in the cosmological analysis, with 𝑅 min =6 Mpc/ℎ (4 Mpc/ℎ) for the linear (nonlinear) galaxy-bias model, the S/N is reduced to 75 (90). A comprehensive suite of validation tests demonstrates that the measurement is robust against observational and astrophysical systematics at the statistical precision required for the DES Y6 analysis. Although not used in the main cosmological analysis, we extract high signal-to-noise geometric shear-ratio measurements from the galaxy-galaxy lensing signal on small angular scales. These measurements provide an internal consistency check on the photometric redshift distributions and shear calibration used in the 3 ×2 pt analysis.

cosmological parameters↗
DOE OSTI2023

Feasibility of a multigroup Boltzmann–Fokker–Planck solution for electron beam dose calculations

Legacy nuclear-reactor Boltzmann solvers start clinical deployment as an alternative to Monte Carlo (MC) codes and Fermi–Eyges semiemprical models in radiation oncology treatment planning. Today’s certified clinical solvers are limited to photon beams. In this paper, ELECTR, a state-of-the-art multigroup electron cross sections generation module in NJOY is presented and validated against Lockwood’s calorimetric measurements, EGS-nrc and GEANT-4 for 1–20 MeV unidirectional electron beams. The nuclear-reactor DRAGON-5 solver is upgraded to access the library and solve the Boltzmann–Fokker–Planck (BFP) equation. A variety of heterogeneous radiotherapy and radiosurgery phantom configurations were used for validation purpose. Case studies include a thorax benchmark, that of a typical breast Intra-Operative Radiotherapy and a high-heterogeneity patient-like benchmark. For all beams, 100% of the water voxels satisfied the American Association of Physicists in Medicine accuracy criterion for a BFP-MC dose error below 2%. At least, 97.0% of adipose, muscle, bone, lung, tumor and breast voxels satisfied the 2% criterion. The average BFP-MC relative error was about 0.56% for all voxels, beams and materials combined. By irradiating homogeneous slabs from Z = 1 (hydrogen) to Z = 99 (einsteinium), we reported performance and defects of the CEPXS mode [US. Sandia National Lab., SAND-89-1685] in ELECTR for the entire periodic table. For all Lockwood’s benchmarks, NJOY-DRAGON dose predictions are within the experimental data precision for 98% of voxels.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2025

Backlighting extended gas halos around luminous red galaxies: Kinematic Sunyaev-Zel’dovich effect from DESI Y1 and ACT data

The gas density profile around galaxies, shaped by feedback and affecting the galaxy lensing signal, is imprinted on the cosmic microwave background (CMB) by the kinematic Sunyaev-Zel’dovich effect (kSZ). We precisely measure this effect (𝑆/𝑁 ≈ 10) via velocity stacking with 825,283 spectroscopically confirmed luminous red galaxies (LRG) from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument Year 1 (DESI Y1) survey, which overlap with the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) Data Release 6 temperature maps over ≥ 4,000 deg 2 . We explore the kSZ dependence with various galaxy parameters and find no significant trend with redshift but clear trends with stellar mass and absolute magnitude in 𝑔, 𝑟, and 𝑧 bands. Our analysis suggests that the gas extends beyond the dark matter halo (99.5% confidence level, i.e., probability to exceed (PTE)⁢ = 0.005). We find a tentative preference for hydrodynamical simulation models with stronger feedback that drives gas further out (Illustris 𝑧 = 0.5, PTE⁢ = 0.37) over weaker-feedback cases (IllustrisTNG 𝑧 = 0.8, PTE⁢ = 0.045), though with limited statistical significance. In all cases, a free multiplicative amplitude was fit to the simulated profiles, and further modeling work is required to firm up these conclusions. We find consistency between kSZ profiles around spectroscopic and photometric LRG, with comparable statistical power, thus increasing our confidence in the photometric analysis. Additionally, we present the first kSZ measurement around the DESI Y1 bright galaxy sample (BGS) and the emission-line galaxies (ELG) whose features match qualitative expectations. Finally, we forecast 𝑆/𝑁 ∼ 50 for future stacked kSZ measurements using data from the ACT, the DESI Y3, and the Rubin Observatory. Furthermore, these measurements will serve as an input for galaxy formation models and baryonic uncertainties in galaxy lensing.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

ForestFlow: predicting the Lyman-α forest clustering from linear to nonlinear scales

On large scales, the Lyman-α forest provides insights into the expansion history of the Universe, while on small scales, it imposes strict constraints on the growth history, the nature of dark matter, and the sum of neutrino masses. This work introduces ForestFlow, a novel framework that bridges the gap between large- and small-scale analyses, which have traditionally relied on distinct modeling approaches. Using conditional normalizing flows, ForestFlow predicts the two Lyman-α linear biases (b δ and b η ) and six parameters describing small-scale deviations of the three-dimensional flux power spectrum (P 3D ) from linear theory as a function of cosmology and intergalactic medium physics. These are then combined with a Boltzmann solver to make consistent predictions, from arbitrarily large scales down to the nonlinear regime, for P 3D and any other statistics derived from it. Trained on a suite of 30 fixed-and-paired cosmological hydrodynamical simulations spanning redshifts from z = 2 to 4.5, ForestFlow achieves 3 and 1.5% precision in describing P 3D and the one-dimensional flux power spectrum (P 1D ) from linear scales to k = 5 Mpc −1 and k ∥ = 4 Mpc −1 , respectively. Thanks to its conditional parameterization, ForestFlow shows similar performance for ionization histories and two ΛCDM model extensions – massive neutrinos and curvature – even though none of these are included in the training set. This framework will enable full-scale cosmological analyses of Lyman-α forest measurements from the DESI survey.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Searches for Light Dark Matter and Evidence of Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering of Solar Neutrinos with the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) Experiment

We present searches for light dark matter (DM) with masses 3–9 GeV/𝑐 2 in the presence of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CE⁢𝜈⁢NS) from 8 B solar neutrinos with the LUX-ZEPLIN experiment. This analysis uses a 5.7 tonne-yr exposure with data collected between March 2023 and April 2025. In an energy range spanning 1–6 keV, we report no significant excess of events attributable to dark matter nuclear recoils, but we observe a significant signal from 8 B CE ⁢𝜈 ⁢NS interactions that is consistent with expectation. We set world-leading limits on spin-independent and spin-dependent-neutron DM-nucleon interactions for masses down to 5 GeV/𝑐 2 . In the no-dark-matter scenario, we observe a signal consistent with 8 B CE⁢ 𝜈 ⁢NS events, corresponding to a 4.5⁢𝜎 statistical significance. This is the most significant evidence of 8 B CE 𝜈 ⁢NS interactions and is enabled by robust background modeling and mitigation techniques. This demonstrates LZ’s ability to detect rare signals at keV-scale energies.

Dark matter detectors↗
DOE OSTI2025

Testing gravitational physics by combining DESI DR1 and weak lensing datasets using the E_G estimator

The action of gravitational physics across space-time creates observable signatures in the behaviour of light and matter. We perform combined-probe studies using data from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) and Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument survey Data Release 1 (DESI-DR1), in combination with three existing weak lensing surveys, the Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS), the Dark Energy Survey (DES), and the Hyper Suprime-Cam Survey (HSC), to test and constrain General Relativity (GR) in the context of the standard model of cosmology (LCDM). We focus on measuring the gravitational estimator statistic, E_G, which describes the relative amplitudes of weak gravitational lensing and galaxy velocities induced by a common set of overdensities. By comparing our amplitude measurements with their predicted scale- and redshift-dependence within the GR+LCDM model, we demonstrate that our results are consistent with the predictions of the Planck cosmology. The redshift span of the DESI dataset allows us to perform these E_G measurements at the highest redshifts achieved to date, z ~ 1.

cosmology↗
DOE OSTI2025

Calibrating the absolute magnitude of type Ia supernovae in nearby galaxies using [O II ] and implications for H 0

The present state of cosmology is facing a crisis where there is a fundamental disagreement in measurements of the Hubble constant ($H_{0}$), with significant tension between the early and late Universe methods. Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are important to measuring $H_{0}$ through the astronomical distance ladder. However, there remains potential to better standardize SN Ia light curves by using known dependencies on host galaxy properties after the standard light curve width and colour corrections have been applied to the peak SN Ia luminosities. To explore this, we use the 5-yr photometrically identified SNe Ia sample obtained by the Dark Energy Survey, along with host galaxy spectra obtained by the Australian Dark Energy Survey. Using host galaxy spectroscopy, we find a significant trend with the equivalent width (EW) of the [O II ] $\lambda \lambda$ 3727, 29 doublet, a proxy for specific star formation rate, and Hubble residuals. We find that the correlation with [O II ] EW is a powerful alternative to the commonly used mass step after initial light-curve corrections. Applying this [O II ] EW correction to 20 SNe Ia in calibrator galaxies observed with WiFeS, we examined the impact on SN Ia absolute magnitudes and $H_{0}$. Our [O II ] EW corrections result in $H_{0}$ values ranging between 73.04 and 73.51 $km$ $s^{-1} \, Mpc^{-1}$, with a combined statistical and systematic uncertainty of $\sim 1.31$ $km$ $s^{-1} \, Mpc^{-1}$. However, even with this additional correction, the impact of host galaxy properties in standardizing SNe Ia appears limited in reducing the current tension ($\sim 5\sigma$) with the cosmic microwave background result for $H_{0}$.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗