Cosmology with the Nearby Supernova Factory

The Nearby Supernova Factory (SNfactory) is currently finishing its first survey of low redshift (0.03 < z < 0.08) type la supernovae. These data add to the understanding of the expansion history of the universe. Observations are performed using the Supernova Integral Field Spectrograph (SNIFS), an integral field spectrograph delivering full spectrophotometric information of the target. The corresponding dataset aims at the inference of the Hubble diagram zero point with unprecedented accuracy. Moreover, the data offers a variety of related physical studies such as the understanding of progenitor systems, explosion scenarios and host galaxy characteristics. The SNfactory is also working on novel methods accessible with spectro-photometric measurements, reducing systematic uncertainties and improving the statistical power of the SN data. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.