Cosmology with Type II Supernovae
  With the recent progresses on the Type II supernovae, we attempt to
investigate whether there does exist new physics beyond the standard
cosmological paradigm, i.e., the cosmological constant $\Lambda$ plus cold dark
matter ($\Lambda$CDM). Constraining four alternative cosmological models with a
data combination of currently available Type II supernovae calibrated by the
standard color method, Type Ia supernovae, baryon acoustic oscillations, cosmic
microwave background and cosmic chronometers, at the $1\sigma$ confidence
level, we find that: (i) a spatially flat universe is supported for the
non-flat $\Lambda$CDM model; (ii) the constrained equation of state of dark
energy $\omega$ is consistent with the $\Lambda$CDM hypothesis for the
$\omega$CDM model where $\omega$ is a free parameter; (iii) for the decaying
vacuum model, there is no evidence of interaction between dark matter and dark
energy in the dark sector of the universe; (iv) there is also no hint of
dynamical dark energy for the dark energy density-parametrization scenario. It
is very obvious that a larger Type II supernovae sample is required, if we
expect to draw definitive conclusions about the formation and evolution of the
universe.
