Related papers: A Critique of Supernova Data Analysis in Cosmology
Astronomy has a long history of acquiring, systematizing, and interpreting large quantities of data. Starting from the earliest sky atlases through the first major photographic sky surveys of the 20th century, this tradition is continuing…
I motivate and discuss some recent work on theories with varying constants, and consider some possible observational consequences and tests. Particular emphasis is given to models which can (almost) exactly mimic the predictions of standard…
Empirically, Type Ia supernovae are the most useful, precise, and mature tools for determining astronomical distances. Acting as calibrated candles they revealed the presence of dark energy and are being used to measure its properties.…
Under the assumption that they are standard(isable) candles, the lightcurves of Type Ia supernovae have been analyzed in the framework of the standard Friedmann-Lema\^itre-Robertson-Walker cosmology to conclude that the expansion rate of…
In the past decade, observational cosmology has had one of the most exciting periods in the past century. The precision with which we have been able to measure cosmological parameters has increased tremendously, while at the same time, we…
Type Ia supernovae luminosities can be corrected to render them useful as standard candles able to probe the expansion history of the universe. This technique was successful applied to discover the present acceleration of the universe. As…
We discuss the cosmic history of supernovae on the basis of various assumptions and recent data on the star formation history. We show that supernova rates as a function of redshift can be used to place significant constraints on progenitor…
High-z Type Ia supernovae are expected to be gravitationally lensed by the foreground distribution of large-scale structure. The resulting magnification of supernovae is statistically measurable, and the angular correlation of the…
- Constraining the cosmological parameters and understanding Dark Energy have tremendous implications for the nature of the Universe and its physical laws. - The pervasive limit of systematic uncertainties reached by cosmography based on…
In the era of precision cosmology, even percentage level effects are significant on cosmological observables. The recent tension between the local and global values of $H_0$ is much more significant than this, and any possible solution…
In this talk, I argue that the method of analysing the m-z data of Type Ia Supernovae (SNe Ia) by assuming exotic energy densities with strange equations of state is misleading and the reasonable remaining option is to make a…
Observational evidence indicating that the expansion of the universe is accelerating has surprised cosmologists in recent years. Cosmological models have sought to explain this acceleration by incorporating `dark energy', of which the…
I present a review of the research and analysis paths that converged to make Type Ia SNe the most mature cosmological distance estimator of the present time. The narrative starts with the first works in the early decades of the 20th century…
We discuss the possibility that the inflationary paradigm, undoubtfully today's best framework to understand all the present cosmological data, may still have some viable challengers. The underlying idea for such discussions is that…
Recent advances in our understanding of the Universe have revolutionized our view of its structure, composition and evolution. However, these new ideas have not necessarily been used to improve the teaching of introductory astronomy…
A strictly linear evolution of the cosmological expansion scale factor is a characteristic feature in several classes of alternative gravity theories as also in the standard (big-bang) model with specially chosen equations of state of…
We explore the possible role of evolution in the analysis of data on SNe Ia at cosmological distances. First, using a variety of simple sleuthing techniques, we find evidence that the properties of the high and low redshift SNe Ia observed…
I briefly discuss the challenges presented by attempting to modify general relativity to obtain an explanation for the observed accelerated expansion of the universe. Foremost among these are the questions of theoretical consistency - the…
In the next decade Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) will be used to test theories predicting changes in the Dark Energy equation of state with time. Ultimately this requires a dedicated space mission like JDEM. SNe Ia are mature cosmological…
Our knowledge of the Universe remains discovery-led: in the absence of adequate physics-based theory, interpretation of new results requires a scientific methodology. Commonly, scientific progress in astrophysics is motivated by the…