Supernovae, dark energy and the accelerating universe

Based on an analysis of 42 high-redshift supernovae discovered by the supernovae cosmology project, we have found evidence for a positive cosmological constant, Lambda, and hence an accelerating universe. In particular, the data are strongly inconsistent with a Lambda=0 flat cosmology, the simplest inflationary universe model. The size of our supernova sample allows us to perform a variety of statistical tests to check for possible systematic errors and biases. We will discuss results of these and other studies and the ongoing hunt for further loopholes to evade the apparent consequences of the measurements. We will present further work that begins to constrain the alternative physics theories of "dark energy" that have been proposed to explain these results. Finally, we propose a new concept for a definitive supernova measurement of the cosmological parameters.