Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Supernovae Wavelet Spectral Index Method: A Step Toward Precision Cosmology, Andrew J. Wagers, Lifan Wang, Steve Asztalos

The Research and Scholarship Symposium (2013-2019)

As cosmological probes, Type Ia Supernovae are some of the most useful. These exploding stars are used to measure cosmic distances and are useful to test and refine cosmological models. While SNe Ia are extremely uniform, the need for more precise measurements of the peak magnitude has led to the development of methods to correct current measurements for statistical errors. The work presented here has developed a new method for measuring the strength of spectral lines with a goal of using them as a basis for correcting the measured peak magnitudes. Wavelets were used to decompose the spectra so that …