Our search for high-redshift Type Ia supernovae discovered, in its first
years, a sample of seven supernovae. Using a "batch" search strategy, almost
all were discovered before maximum light and were observed over the peak of
their light curves. The spectra and light curves indicate that almost all were
Type Ia supernovae at redshifts z = 0.35 -- 0.5. These high-redshift supernovae
can provide a distance indicator and "standard clock" to study the cosmological
parameters q_0, Lambda, Omega_0, and H_0. This presentation and the following
presentations of Kim et al. (1996), Goldhaber et al. (1996), and Pain et al.
(1996) will discuss observation strategies and rates, analysis and calibration
issues, the sources of measurement uncertainty, and the cosmological
implications, including bounds on q_0, of these first high-redshift supernovae
from our ongoing search.Comment: 15 pages, 6 Postscript figures, uuencoded uses crckapb.sty and
psfig.sty. To appear in Thermonuclear Supernovae (NATO ASI), eds. R. Canal,
P. Ruiz-LaPuente, and J. Isern. Postscript version is also available at
http://www-supernova.lbl.gov