SUGAR: An improved empirical model of Type Ia Supernovae based on spectral features

Understand

Type Ia Supernovae (SNe Ia) are widely used to measure the expansion of the Universe.

• Improving distance measurements of SNe Ia is one technique to better constrain the acceleration of expansion and determine its physical nature.
• This document develops a new SNe Ia spectral energy distribution (SED) model, called the SUpernova Generator And Reconstructor (SUGAR), which improves the spectral description of SNe Ia, and consequently could improve the distance measurements.
• This model is constructed from SNe Ia spectral properties and spectrophotometric data from The Nearby Supernova Factory collaboration.