Program: GS-2004B-Q-31

Title:SNLS and the Nature of Dark Energy from Type Ia Supernovae
PI:Chris Pritchet
Co-I(s): Ray Carlberg, Andy Howell, Mark Sullivan, Arif Babul, David Balam, Sara Ellison, F.D.A. Hartwick, Henk Hoekstra, Tom Merrall, Julio Navarro, Don Neill, Kathy Perrett, David Schade, Luc Simard, Peter Stetson, Sidney van den Bergh, Jon Willis, Isobel Hook, Rob Knop, Richard McMahon, Reynald Pain, Saul Perlmutter, James Rich, Nic Walton, Justin Bronder

Abstract

Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) currently provide the only direct evidence for an accelerating Universe, and for the existence of "dark energy" driving this expansion. The Supernova Legacy Survey (one component of the CFHT legacy survey) will deliver ~1000 SN Ia detections, with well-sampled g'r'i'z' light curves, over 5 years. Using these data we will obtain a precise measurement of the cosmological parameters (Omega_mass, Omega_Lambda). Our goal is to determine the cosmological equation of state parameter "w" to a precision of better than +-0.10, testing theories for the origin of the universal acceleration. The spectroscopic follow-up to these detections involves most of the world's major telescopes (VLT, Keck, Magellan), and Gemini plays a pivotal role within this collaboration - the high sensitivity obtained through GMOS nod and shuffle observations has proved crucial for following up the faintest, most distant targets. The goal for Gemini this semester is to obtain types and redshifts for ~30 SNe Ia candidates out to z~=0.9, contributing to a very large, high quality and homogeneous SN Ia data set with photometry, light-curve sampling, and colour information superior to that in all previous studies. This proposal falls under the QR (quick response) category, for which the triggers are supernova discoveries from the CFHT Legacy Survey. The approximate trigger dates and coordinates are known months in advance. This proposal is for GMOS-S time, an identical request for GMOS-N time will be submitted.

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