Astronomy Tea Talk
Prof. Sherry is PI of the H0LiCOW program to measure H0 using gravitationally lensed quasars, and of the new H0LiSMOKES to do the same with lensed supernovae.
Strongly lensed supernovae (SNe) are emerging as a new probe of cosmology and SNe. When a SN is strongly lensed by a foreground galaxy, multiple images of the SN will appear around the foreground galaxy at different times. Current and upcoming surveys including Euclid and the Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time will capture hundreds of strongly lensed SNe, expanding the existing sample by two orders of magnitude. These events offer excellent opportunities to: (1) measure the Hubble constant via lensing time delays, shedding light on the Hubble tension, and (2) obtain unprecedented constraints on SN progenitors through early-phase spectra. I will give an overview of the first discoveries of lensed SNe and their cosmological implications.