Dr. Tim Eifler, University of Arizona
When
Where
Cosmic Acceleration, frequently termed “dark energy”, describes the discovery made in 1998 that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating. Weak gravitational lensing is one of the most promising avenues to explore the dark energy phenomenon: it constrains geometry and growth of structures in the Universe and it is sensitive to both dark and luminous matter.
In this talk I will give an introduction into the observational evidence of cosmic acceleration and I will introduce weak lensing as a concept to constrain properties of this phenomenon. I will give an overview of the existing and near future data sets that will map the Universe at unprecedented statistical accuracy and I will detail the challenges that arise when analyzing these large cosmological data sets. I focus on the recent results from the Dark Energy Survey and will conclude with an outlook towards future experiments such as the DOE/NSF Large Synoptic Survey Telescope and the NASA Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope.
** Refreshments served from 2:45pm – 3:00pm in PAS 218. Thank you. **