Séminaires

The Next Golden Age of Supernova Cosmology

par Mathew Smith (IP2I/IN2P3/CNRS)

Europe/Paris
Description

Type Ia supernova (SNIa) cosmology is a central pillar underpinning all cosmology analyses. These standardised distances were the first to discover the accelerated expansion of the Universe, and today are at the centre of two of the central cosmological mysteries: the nature of dark energy and the Hubble Tension. However, with the astrophysics underlying these events unknown, systematic uncertainties now dominate our conclusions.
In this talk, I will highlight how SNeIa have got us to the state-of-the-art in cosmology today, and the challenges that lie between us and precisely measuring the equation-of-state of dark energy, w, before addressing how these problems are being addressed by the two principal surveys today. Mapping the properties of supernovae and Universe’s expansion history at high and low redshift, both the Dark Energy Survey (DES) and the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) have solved many of the problems underlying SNIa cosmology and opened up entirely new avenues of using these measurements as cosmological probes. This reinvention of the cosmological standard candle paves the way for the next decade of discoveries where both the Vera Rubin Observatory and the Roman Space Telescope, with over 1 million SNeIa, will map the cosmos to unparalleled accuracy, and finally unveil the nature of Dark Energy.