Date/Time
Date(s) - 19/09/2007
3:30 pm - 4:30 pm

Title: Supernovae and Dark Energy

Speaker: Dr. Chris Pritchet

Institute: University of Victoria

Location: ABB 102

Description:

The CFHT Supernova Legacy Survey (SNLS) uses high-redshift Type Ia Supernovae (SNe Ia) to constrain the nature of the mysterious dark energy that fills the Universe. The first results from the survey (about 15% of the final supernova sample) indicated that that dark energy acts like a pure Einsteinian cosmological constant (equation of state parameter w=-0.97+-0.08). This is the most accurate measurement of w yet achieved. I will give an update on the current status of the
survey, including recent results on the nature of supernovae and their host
galaxies.