The cosmological parameters from supernovae

Abstract

Supernovae are bright luminous stellar objects observable up to redshifts close to z~1. They are used to probe the geometry of the Universe and its expansion rate by applying different methods. In this article, I review various approaches used to measure the present expansion rate of the Universe, $H_0$, and the paths to determine its matter density ${\Omega }_M$ and the possible contribution of a non-zero cosmological constant $\Lambda$. An account is given of the numerical estimates of those cosmological parameters according to the present status of the research.

arXiv comment18 pages, Tex file including 8 Figures Lecture given at the Casablanca Winter School ``From Quantum Fluctuations to Cosmological Structures''(December 1996)