Probing Dark Energy with Supernova Searches

Four years ago, two teams presented independent analyzes coming from photometry of type Ia supernovae at various distances. The results presented back then shook-up the scientific community: the universe is accelerating with a positive repulsive fluid sometimes called dark energy. No significant work has disproved the fundamental results, yet some doubt subsists in the assumptions behind the full use of type Ia supernovae as perfect distance indicators. The uncertainty of the evolution problem, the explosion mechanisms and the diversity of the observed light curves properties are often cited problems. All these aspects are now being deeply investigated in to-come or already started supernova searches along with the on-going quest of determining the nature of dark energy. We will present here a brief introduction to the use of type Ia supernova in cosmology, the current status of supernova cosmology as well as an overview of the wide supernova surveys about to begin.