Abstract:
The Supernova Cosmology Project has reported the first complete set of
high-redshift supernovae all of which have lightcurves measured with the
HST. The precision afforded by the Space Telescope allows excellent
determinations of the lightcurves. This new set of high-redshift
supernovae confirm the accelerating Universe results, yielding a
flat-universe mass density of
, or equivalently a
cosmological constant of
. When the
supernova results are combined with independent flat-universe
measurements of
from CMB and galaxy redshift distortion data,
they provide a measurement of the dark energy equation of state parameter
. In addition to high-precision lightcurve
measurements, the new data offer greatly improved color measurements,
and hence much better direct limits on host galaxy extinction than was
possible with previous high-redshift supernovae. While previous
host-galaxy extinction estimates relied on assumptions about the
intrinsic extinction distribution, a full extinction correction with the
current data confirms that dark energy required, with a greater than 99%
probability for a positive dark energy density.