Standardization of type Ia supernovae

TL;DR

This paper reviews the properties of Type Ia supernovae, focusing on their spectral features and light curve standardization, and demonstrates a classical light curve fitting method using real data for cosmological applications.

Contribution

It provides a pedagogical overview of SNe Ia analysis and introduces a step-by-step implementation of a classical light curve fitter applied to observational data.

Findings

Spectral properties of SNe Ia analyzed in detail

Standardization of light curves using the stretch method demonstrated

Application to real data from the Carnegie Supernova Project

Abstract

Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) have been intensively investigated due to its great homogeneity and high luminosity, which make it possible to use them as standardizable candles for the determination of cosmological parameters. In 2011, the physics Nobel prize was awarded for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe through observations of distant supernovae. This is a pedagogical article, aimed at those starting their study of that subject, in which we dwell on some topics related to the analysis of SNe Ia and their use in luminosity distance estimators. Here we investigate their spectral properties and light curve standardization, paying careful attention to the fundamental quantities directly related to the SNe Ia observables. Finally, we describe our own step-by-step implementation of a classical light curve fitter, the stretch, applying it to real data from the Carnegie Supernova Project.