| We describe the IfA Deep Survey and the primary results from the associated search for Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia). The survey observed ∼2.5 square degrees to a depth of m ≈ 25--26 in RIZ over 9--17 visits, typically every 1--3 weeks for nearly 5 months. We discovered 23 confirmed SNe Ia, including 15 at z ≥ 0.7, doubling the published number of objects at these redshifts. These SNe provide corroboration that the evidence that expansion of the universe is accelerating is indeed due to cosmological effects rather than systematic effects proportional to redshift. Adopting the constraint that O total = 1.0, we obtain best-fit values of (O m,OΛ) = (0.33, 0.67).; We develop several new analytic techniques that promise to increase the power of future SN surveys, including the N(N - 1)/2 method for constructing variable object light-curves. We show how to obtain a best estimate of the light-curve by performing all possible subtractions of pairs of images and demonstrate that this method improves results over the standard "single template" procedure.; We describe a method for accurately determining luminosity distances to SNe Ia without knowledge of redshift based on marginalizing over z. We demonstrate that the Hubble diagram scatter of distances from this technique is equal to that using conventional redshift-specific methods, indicating that accurate distances to SNe Ia may be determined without spectroscopic redshifts, which are typically the limiting factor for the number of SNe that surveys can collect.; The nature of the IfA Deep Survey observations means that we can identify SNe in a complete and unbiased way. We describe the process by which we re-analyze the survey data to provide a first look at the faint, variable universe, and provide a comprehensive catalog of SNe in the survey fields.; We investigate rates using the complete sample of SNe produced by the above analysis. We observe a steady increase in the rates of SNe Ia, interrupted by a single discrepant point at z = 0.55 that may be partially attributable to sample contamination. We find that there is no evidence for a significant delay time between the star formation rate and the SN Ia rate, indicating progenitor evolution may be short. |
