Clare Saunders

I am an observational cosmologist based at the Laboratoire de Physique Nucléaire et de Hautes Énergies (LPNHE). The aim of my research is to understand dark energy by measuring the expansion the universe. In pursuit of this goal, I work on observing and analyzing near and very distant Type Ia supernovae. Type Ia supernovae are the explosions of Carbon-Oxygen white dwarfs, which can be used as standard candles in cosmology. On the nearby supernova side, my research has been focused on using data from the Nearby Supernova Factory, work that was started during my graduate work at the University of California, Berkeley. This project is a collaboration between several institutions in Europe, the USA, and China, and used the UH88 telescope on Mauna Kea to obtain very good observations of relatively nearby supernovae. With this data, I have developed improved empirical models for Type Ia supernovae, with the goal of improving how well supernovae can be used as standard candles. I also work on projects aimed at observing much more distant supernovae, which provide a stronger lever arm in constraining the properties of dark energy. At LPNHE, we are very involved in the Subaru Strategic Program, a supernova survey that uses the Subaru telescope, also on Mauna Kea, to find very distant supernovae, then uses the Hubble Space Telescope to obtain followup measurements.

List of publications: arxiv

Contact: clare.saunders[at]lpnhe[dot]in2p3[dot]fr