Abstract: | Type Ia supernovae are among the brightest explosions in the Universe. They are the dominant source of iron in the Galaxy and one of the key tools in establishing the accelerated expansion of the Universe. While we know that type Ia supernovae are produced by exploding white dwarfs, the quest is still very much on concerning how exactly do white dwarfs explode. In this talk, I will review the recent developments in determining the origins of these explosions and our contributions to this effort |