Type Ia supernovae as stellar endpoints and cosmological tools

Actinide Crystallization and Fission Reactions in Cooling White Dwarf Stars

The first solids that form as a cooling white dwarf (WD) starts to crystallize are expected to be greatly enriched in actinides. This is because the melting points of WD matter scale as Z^{5/3} and actinides have the largest charge Z. We estimate that the solids may be so enriched in actinides that they could support a fission chain reaction. This reaction could ignite carbon burning and lead to the explosion of an isolated WD in a thermonuclear supernova (SN Ia). Our mechanism could potentially explain SN Ia with sub-Chandrasekhar ejecta masses and short delay times.

The expansion of the universe observed with supernovae

Over the last 20 years, supernovae have become a key tool to constrain the expansion history of the Universe through the construction of Hubble diagrams, using luminosity distances to supernovae belonging to the 'Ia' subtype. This technique was key for the discovery that the expansion of the Universe is now accelerating. We review the principle and difficulties of the measurements, the classification and diversity of supernovae, and the physics of explosion. We discuss the systematic uncertainties affecting the cosmological conclusions with some emphasis on photometric calibration. We describe the major supernova cosmology surveys, the presented analyses and their conclusions, together with the present status of the field. We conclude on the expectations for the near future.