Stress testing the dark energy equation of state imprint on supernova
  data
  This work determines the degree to which a standard Lambda-CDM analysis based
on type Ia supernovae can identify deviations from a cosmological constant in
the form of a redshift-dependent dark energy equation of state w(z). We
introduce and apply a novel random curve generator to simulate instances of
w(z) from constraint families with increasing distinction from a cosmological
constant. After producing a series of mock catalogs of binned type Ia
supernovae corresponding to each w(z) curve, we perform a standard Lambda-CDM
analysis to estimate the corresponding posterior densities of the absolute
magnitude of type Ia supernovae, the present-day matter density, and the
equation of state parameter. Using the Kullback-Leibler divergence between
posterior densities as a difference measure, we demonstrate that a standard
type Ia supernova cosmology analysis has limited sensitivity to extensive
redshift dependencies of the dark energy equation of state. In addition, we
report that larger redshift-dependent departures from a cosmological constant
do not necessarily manifest easier-detectable incompatibilities with the
Lambda-CDM model. Our results suggest that physics beyond the standard model
may simply be hidden in plain sight.
