Abstract:
Type Ia supernovae are important objects in astrophysics and cosmology. They are the main producers of iron-group elements in the Universe, and their energy output significantly influence the evolution of their host galaxies, as may enrich the intergalactic medium. On the cosmological scale, they have been used to map out the expansion history of the Universe, and have been instrumental to the discovery of Dark Energy. However, the nature of the progenitors of these important events remains curiously elusive, despite decades of scrutiny. In this talk, I will give a general overview of the field of type Ia supernova progenitors, with an emphasis on my own work on the X-ray characteristics of these objects.