Searching for supernovae in the multiply-imaged galaxies behind the gravitational telescope A370

Understand

Strong lensing by massive galaxy clusters can provide magnification of the flux and even multiple images of the galaxies that lie behind them.

• This phenomenon facilitates observations of high-redshift supernovae (SNe), that would otherwise remain undetected.
• Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) detections are of particular interest because of their standard brightness, since they can be used to improve either cluster lensing models or cosmological parameter measurements.
• We present a ground-based, near-infrared search for lensed SNe behind the galaxy cluster Abell 370.