Year: 2007
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: Future use of type Ia supernovae for cosmology aims not only to determine the equation of state of dark energy, but also to constrain possible variations in its value. To achieve this goal, supernovae need to become better calibrated standard candles — not only to improve the precision of the measurement, but more importantly to gain better control over systematic uncertainties in order to ensure the accuracy of the result.Here we report on a project to quantify the diversity in type Ia supernovae, and to look for trends and/or sub‐types that can be used to improve their calibration as standard candles. We implement a version of principal component analysis on type Ia supernova spectra. Although the quantity of data is not sufficient to draw any firm conclusions we show that this method holds promise for, at the very least, effectively separating peculiar supernovae. Whether it can be further used to improve the calibration of normal type Ia’s remains a project for future study.
Source: AIP conference proceedings
DOI: 10.1063/1.2774877
Authors: Tamara M. Davis, J. Berian James, Brian P. Schmidt, Alex G. Kim
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2007123417