Supernovae and Cosmic Expansion History Observed

• Type Ia supernovae as standard candles
  • Search Teams: Supernova Cosmology Project, High-z Supernova Search
  • Examples: low-z SN 1994D, typical medium-z event, z=1.7 discovery in the Hubble Deep Field
  • light curves
• probing cosmic expansion history using supernovae as standard candles
• Bizarre results:
  • less technical presentation here
  • more technically: here and here; and their implications: High-z figure
• Acceleration discovery is prizeworthy

Living with Acceleration

• cosmic expansion hisotry: General Relativity predictions vs observations
• explanations for cosmic acceleration
• cosmic accelerant?
• modified gravity?

Modified Gravity

Cosmic Accelerants

• cosmological constant
• dark energy