“This launch changes the rules of the game”: experts explain the expansion of the universe through the Supernovas

A new Single Data set of IA Supernovas can change the way cosmologists measure the history of expansion of the universe.

The Ia type supernovae are the dramatic explosions of white dwarf stars at the end of their lives. Cosmologists use them to probe the distances through the universe comparing their flows, as the farthest objects appear more dim.

The working group of Cosmological Science of ZTF (Zwicky Transient Facity) He has published twenty -one articles studying these 3628 Supernovas of type IA, forming a special number in Astronomy & Astrophysics. ZTF is an astronomical study of the broad field sky that uses a new camera coupled to the Samuel Oschin telescope at the Palomar Observatory in California.

The astrophysicist of Lancaster Mathew Smith, co -director of the new publication, said in a statement: “This launch provides a set of data that changes the rules of the game for the cosmology of Superovas. Open the door to new discoveries about expansion of the universe and the fundamental physics of the Supernovas. “

This is the First time astrophysicians have access to such a large and homogeneous data set. The IA supernovae are rare, since approximately once every thousand years occur in a typical galaxy, but the depth and the ZTF study strategy allow researchers to detect almost four per night. In just two and a half years, ZTF has doubled the number of IA type supernovae for cosmology acquired during the last 30 years for almost three thousand.

The ZTF camera, installed in the 48 -inch Schmidt telescope of the Palomar Observatory, Daily scan the entire northern sky into three optical bandsreaching a depth of magnitude 20.5, one million times weaker than the most dimable stars visible to the naked eye. This sensitivity allows ZTF to detect almost all supernovae within a radius of 1.5 billion light years from Earth.

The acceleration of the expansion of the universe, awarded the Nobel Prize in 2011, was discovered in the late 90s using approximately one hundred of these supernovae. Since then, cosmologists are investigating the reason for this acceleration caused by dark energy, which plays the role of anti -rave force throughout the universe.

One of the key results of these studies is that Ia type supernovae vary intrinsically depending on their surroundingsmore than expected above, and the correction mechanism assumed so far should be reviewed. This could change the way we measure the history of expansion of the universe and can have important consequences for the current deviation observed in the standard cosmology model.