Carnegie Supernova Project-II: The Near-infrared Spectroscopy Program

Understand

Shifting the focus of Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) cosmology to the near-infrared (NIR) is a promising way to significantly reduce the systematic errors, as the strategy minimizes our reliance on the empirical width-luminosity relation and uncertain dust laws.

• Observations in the NIR are also crucial for our understanding of the origins and evolution of these events, further improving their cosmological utility.
• Any future experiments in the rest-frame NIR will require knowledge of the SN Ia NIR spectroscopic diversity, which is currently based on a small sample of observed spectra.
• Along with the accompanying paper, Phillips et al.