Host Galaxy Properties and Hubble Residuals of Type Ia Supernovae from
  the Nearby Supernova Factory
  We examine the relationship between Type Ia Supernova (SN Ia) Hubble
residuals and the properties of their host galaxies using a sample of 115 SNe
Ia from the Nearby Supernova Factory (SNfactory). We use host galaxy stellar
masses and specific star-formation rates fitted from photometry for all hosts,
as well as gas-phase metallicities for a subset of 69 star-forming (non-AGN)
hosts, to show that the SN Ia Hubble residuals correlate with each of these
host properties. With these data we find new evidence for a correlation between
SN Ia intrinsic color and host metallicity. When we combine our data with those
of other published SN Ia surveys, we find the difference between mean SN Ia
brightnesses in low and high mass hosts is 0.077 +- 0.014 mag. When viewed in
narrow (0.2 dex) bins of host stellar mass, the data reveal apparent plateaus
of Hubble residuals at high and low host masses with a rapid transition over a
short mass range (9.8 <= log(M_*/M_Sun) <= 10.4). Although metallicity has been
a favored interpretation for the origin of the Hubble residual trend with host
mass, we illustrate how dust in star-forming galaxies and mean SN Ia progenitor
age both evolve along the galaxy mass sequence, thereby presenting equally
viable explanations for some or all of the observed SN Ia host bias.
