The Deceleration Parameter from SN Ia Photometry?
Session 38 -- Supernovae
Display presentation, Thursday, January 13, 9:30-6:45, Salons I/II Room (Crystal Gateway)

[38.01] The Deceleration Parameter from SN Ia Photometry?

Thomas E. Vaughan and David Branch (U. of Okla. Phys. \& Astr.)

In order to investigate the feasibility of determining the cosmic deceleration parameter from high redshift (z = 0.5$\rightarrow$1.5) type Ia supernova photometry alone, a representative time-evolving spectrum is constructed from 19 UV and optical spectra of SN 1992A and SN 1981B. By K-correcting and time-dilating this "spectral surface," we approximate the evolution of light curves and colors with redshift. Assuming that the SN Ia production rate is constant in time and space, we find, for $q_{o}$ = 0.5, that a single 8'$\times$8' field (as in the Omega Telescope proposal, Pennypacker et al., 1993) has about one SN Ia per year out to z = 1.5. We estimate the observable fraction of these supernovae as a function of limiting magnitude.