Is There Evidence for a Hubble Bubble? The Nature of SN Ia Colors And Dust in External Galaxies

We examine recent evidence from the luminosity-redshift relation of Type Ia Supernovae for the {approx} 3 {sigma} detection of a ''Hubble bubble'' -- a departure of the local value of the Hubble constant from its globally averaged value. By comparing the MLCS2k2 fits used in that study to the results from other light-curve fitters applied to the same data, we demonstrate that this is related to the interpretation of SN color excesses (after correction for a light-curve shape-color relation) and the presence of a color gradient across the local sample. If the slope of the linear relation ({beta}) between SN color excess and luminosity is fit empirically, then the bubble disappears. If, on the other hand, the color excess arises purely from Milky-Way like dust, then SN data clearly favors a Hubble bubble. We demonstrate that SN data give {beta} {approx} 2, instead of the {beta} {approx} 4 one would expect from purely Milky-Way-like dust. This suggests that either SN intrinsic colors are more complicated than can be described with a single light-curve shape parameter, or that dust around SN is unusual. Disentangling these possibilities is both a challenge and an opportunity for large-survey SN Ia cosmology.