How to Find Gravitationally Lensed Type Ia Supernovae
  Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) that are multiply imaged by gravitational lensing
can extend the SN Ia Hubble diagram to very high redshifts $(z\gtrsim 2)$,
probe potential SN Ia evolution, and deliver high-precision constraints on
$H_0$, $w$, and $\Omega_m$ via time delays. However, only one, iPTF16geu, has
been found to date, and many more are needed to achieve these goals. To
increase the multiply imaged SN Ia discovery rate, we present a simple
algorithm for identifying gravitationally lensed SN Ia candidates in cadenced,
wide-field optical imaging surveys. The technique is to look for supernovae
that appear to be hosted by elliptical galaxies, but that have absolute
magnitudes implied by the apparent hosts' photometric redshifts that are far
brighter than the absolute magnitudes of normal SNe Ia (the brightest type of
supernovae found in elliptical galaxies). Importantly, this purely photometric
method does not require the ability to resolve the lensed images for discovery.
AGN, the primary sources of contamination that affect the method, can be
controlled using catalog cross-matches and color cuts. Highly magnified
core-collapse supernovae will also be discovered as a byproduct of the method.
Using a Monte Carlo simulation, we forecast that LSST can discover up to 500
multiply imaged SNe Ia using this technique in a 10-year $z$-band search, more
than an order of magnitude improvement over previous estimates (Oguri &
Marshall 2010). We also predict that ZTF should find up to 10 multiply imaged
SNe Ia using this technique in a 3-year $R$-band search---despite the fact that
this survey will not resolve a single system.
