Cosmology: from Galaxy Surveys to Dark Matter and Dark Energy
Lead Research Organisation:
University College London
Department Name: Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
The recent cosmological measurements support a `concordance' model in which the universe is flat and contains only 4 % ordinary matter, 21 % cold dark matter and 75 % dark energy. The next decade will see increased efforts to constrain the nature of dark energy and dark matter. One of the most promising cosmological probes is the use of galaxy redshift and imaging surveys. UCL Astrophysics is one of leading institutions in the effort to measure dark energy with such surveys. We have leading roles in the proposed Dark Energy Survey (DES), the Dark Universe Explorer (DUNE) and a Wide Field Multi-Object Spectrograph (WFMOS), all designed to contrast dark energy models with data. The proposal submitted is built around these surveys and three probes to constrain dark energy models, namely: cluster counts, galaxy clustering including baryon accoustic oscillations and cosmic lensing. In addition UCL Astrophysics will have access to a High Performance Computing system. In order to obtain precision constraints on dark energy, hundreds of millions of galaxies will be observed and their distance estimated. This requires fast methods based on galaxy colours ('photometric redshifts'). We propose to employ one PDRA and one PhD student who will explore the prospect of galaxy clustering measurements with these colour-based methods, and their systematic impacts. The second PDRA and a PhD student will concentrate on the study of cosmic lensing and involved systematics. The third PDRA will investigate how clusters (detected by the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect) can be calibrated with optical surveys and how to exploit them for cosmological measurements. Finally the fourth PDRA and a PhD student will work on N-body and hydro-simulations, studying the structure formation properties of dark energy, simulating clusters of galaxies and producing realistic mock catalogs for forecasting and exploiting weak lensing and galaxy clustering surveys. The Cosmology team at UCL is well placed for this project. The applicants are experienced in the fields of analysing large galaxy surveys, designing surveys for weak lensing observations and forecasting galaxy cluster surveys. The Cosmology team at UCL currently consists of 3 staff members, 5 PDRAs and 7 PhD students. Since the PDRA grants finish shortly, as outlined in the proposal, and 3 of the current students are funded by start-up grants, the proposed program would allow the continuation of these efforts. This is essential so that we can fulfill our commitments towards the proposed surveys and maintain our leadership in the science areas mentioned above within the UK and the international collaborations.
Organisations
Publications
Abate A
(2008)
Peculiar velocities into the next generation: cosmological parameters from large surveys without bias from non-linear structure Peculiar velocities into the next generation
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Abate A
(2009)
SHEAR-SELECTED CLUSTERS FROM THE DEEP LENS SURVEY. III. MASSES FROM WEAK LENSING
in The Astrophysical Journal
Abbott T.
(2012)
First SN Discoveries from the Dark Energy Survey
in The Astronomer's Telegram
Abdalla F.
(2012)
The Dark Energy Spectrometer (DESpec): A Multi-Fiber Spectroscopic Upgrade of the Dark Energy Camera and Survey for the Blanco Telescope
in arXiv e-prints
Agarwal S
(2014)
pkann - II. A non-linear matter power spectrum interpolator developed using artificial neural networks
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Agarwal Shankar
(2012)
Constraining Cosmological Parameters, Including Neutrino Mass, Using N-body Large Scale Simulations and Artificial Neural Networks
in American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #219
Agnello A
(2015)
Discovery of two gravitationally lensed quasars in the Dark Energy Survey
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Balan Sreekumar Thaithara
(2012)
ExoFit: Orbital parameters of extra-solar planets from radial velocity
in Astrophysics Source Code Library
Balbinot E
(2016)
THE PHOENIX STREAM: A COLD STREAM IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE
in The Astrophysical Journal
Balbinot E
(2015)
The LMC geometry and outer stellar populations from early DES data
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Banerji M
(2014)
Combining Dark Energy Survey Science Verification data with near-infrared data from the ESO VISTA Hemisphere Survey
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Bechtol K
(2015)
EIGHT NEW MILKY WAY COMPANIONS DISCOVERED IN FIRST-YEAR DARK ENERGY SURVEY DATA
in The Astrophysical Journal
Becker M
(2016)
Cosmic shear measurements with Dark Energy Survey Science Verification data
in Physical Review D
Bonnett C.
(2015)
Redshift distributions of galaxies in the DES Science Verification shear catalogue and implications for weak lensing
in ArXiv e-prints
Bradley L
(2014)
CLASH: A CENSUS OF MAGNIFIED STAR-FORMING GALAXIES AT z ~ 6-8
in The Astrophysical Journal
Bridle S
(2010)
Results of the GREAT08 Challenge?: an image analysis competition for cosmological lensing Results of the GREAT08 Challenge
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Bridle S
(2009)
Handbook for the GREAT08 Challenge: An image analysis competition for cosmological lensing
in The Annals of Applied Statistics
Bridle Sarah
(2008)
Cosmic Shear: Potential and Prospects
in A Decade of Dark Energy
Chang C
(2015)
Wide-Field Lensing Mass Maps from Dark Energy Survey Science Verification Data
in Physical Review Letters
Clerkin L
(2015)
A prescription for galaxy biasing evolution as a nuisance parameter
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Clerkin L
(2017)
Testing the lognormality of the galaxy and weak lensing convergence distributions from Dark Energy Survey maps
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Cypriano E
(2010)
Cosmic shear requirements on the wavelength dependence of telescope point spread functions
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
DES Collaboration DES
(2017)
Dark Energy Survey Year 1 Results: Cosmological Constraints from Galaxy Clustering and Weak Lensing
in arXiv e-prints
Donahue M
(2014)
CLASH-X: A COMPARISON OF LENSING AND X-RAY TECHNIQUES FOR MEASURING THE MASS PROFILES OF GALAXY CLUSTERS
in The Astrophysical Journal
Drlica-Wagner A
(2015)
SEARCH FOR GAMMA-RAY EMISSION FROM DES DWARF SPHEROIDAL GALAXY CANDIDATES WITH FERMI -LAT DATA
in The Astrophysical Journal
Eichner T
(2013)
GALAXY HALO TRUNCATION AND GIANT ARC SURFACE BRIGHTNESS RECONSTRUCTION IN THE CLUSTER MACSJ1206.2-0847
in The Astrophysical Journal
Evans A
(2009)
A DETECTION OF DARK MATTER HALO ELLIPTICITY USING GALAXY CLUSTER LENSING IN THE SDSS
in The Astrophysical Journal
Goldstein D
(2015)
AUTOMATED TRANSIENT IDENTIFICATION IN THE DARK ENERGY SURVEY
in The Astronomical Journal
Goldstein D
(2015)
ERRATUM: "AUTOMATED TRANSIENT IDENTIFICATION IN THE DARK ENERGY SURVEY" (2015, AJ, 150, 82)
in The Astronomical Journal
Grillo C
(2014)
CLASH: EXTENDING GALAXY STRONG LENSING TO SMALL PHYSICAL SCALES WITH DISTANT SOURCES HIGHLY MAGNIFIED BY GALAXY CLUSTER MEMBERS
in The Astrophysical Journal
Hawken A
(2009)
Gravitational flexion by elliptical dark matter haloes
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Huang X
(2015)
CLASH: EXTREME EMISSION-LINE GALAXIES AND THEIR IMPLICATION ON SELECTION OF HIGH-REDSHIFT GALAXIES
in The Astrophysical Journal
Jarvis M
(2016)
The DES Science Verification weak lensing shear catalogues
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Joachimi B
(2010)
Simultaneous measurement of cosmology and intrinsic alignments using joint cosmic shear and galaxy number density correlations
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Joachimi B
(2011)
Constraints on intrinsic alignment contamination of weak lensing surveys using the MegaZ-LRG sample
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Jouvel S
(2014)
CLASH: Photometric redshifts with 16 HST bands in galaxy cluster fields
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Jouvel S
(2014)
Optimizing spectroscopic and photometric galaxy surveys: efficient target selection and survey strategy
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Jouvel S.
(2013)
VizieR Online Data Catalog: CLASH. Photometric + photo-z catalog (Jouvel+, 2014)
in VizieR Online Data Catalog
Jouvel S.
(2015)
Photometric redshifts and clustering of emission line galaxies selected jointly by DES and eBOSS
in arXiv e-prints
Kacprzak T
(2013)
Measurement and calibration of noise bias in weak lensing galaxy shape estimation
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Kirk D
(2015)
Optimizing spectroscopic and photometric galaxy surveys: same-sky benefits for dark energy and modified gravity
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Kirk D
(2010)
The impact of intrinsic alignments: cosmological constraints from a joint analysis of cosmic shear and galaxy survey data The impact of intrinsic alignments
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Kirk D
(2012)
The cosmological impact of intrinsic alignment model choice for cosmic shear Impact of intrinsic alignment model choice
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Kirk Donnacha
(2011)
Optimising cosmic shear surveys to measure modifications to gravity on cosmic scales
in ArXiv e-prints
Kitching Thomas
(2010)
Gravitational Lensing Accuracy Testing 2010 (GREAT10) Challenge Handbook
in arXiv e-prints
Lahav O
(2014)
Dark energy, paradigm shifts, and the role of evidence
in Astronomy & Geophysics
Lahav Ofer
(2014)
The Cosmological Parameters 2014
in arXiv e-prints
Lahav Ofer
(2012)
ANNz: Artificial Neural Networks for estimating photometric redshifts
in Astrophysics Source Code Library
Leistedt B.
(2015)
Mapping and simulating systematics due to spatially-varying observing conditions in DES Science Verification data
in ArXiv e-prints
Title | Hosting artists in residence |
Description | We have hosted artists in residence who were inspired by Dark Energy studies |
Type Of Art | Artwork |
Year Produced | 2014 |
Impact | - Artist Katie Paterson (on Leverhulme grant; PI: Lahav) presented her work in museums around the world - Artist Marie Kaus produced art work on dark energy, on display at UCL Observatory at Mill Hill |
Description | This grant is finished but this section can be updated at a later date if details required. The grant has produced over 80 refereed papers since its start in 2008. We listed all relevant publication until the present (2017), as some of the work that started then has led to publications once the data came in. This grant laid the foundations for preparations for the Dark Energy Survey, where we have played leadership roles (Ofer Lahav as co-chair of the Science Committee and chair of DES:UK, Sarah Bridle as co-coordinator of the Weak Lensing working group and JochenWeller as co-coordinator of the Theory and Combined Probes working group). Later Filipe Abdalla and Hiranya Peiris, appointed as lecturers in 2009, joined them in this effort and they have made important contributions to DES and other surveys. The Dark Energy Survey has completed a significant fraction of its survey and has produced over 90 papers (as of early early 2017), 7 of them led by our group. In addition, the grant provided support for theoretical studies in cosmology and other probes such as the CMB. |
Exploitation Route | ArXiv (Green open access) and refereed journals This grant led to the follow up STFC grant 'Cosmology from Surveys' (2011-2011), and further Consolidated Grants (2012-2015; 2015-2019) This grant led to 3 ERC grants: Bridle (Starting Grant) Lahav (Advanced Grant), Peiris (Starting Grant) |
Sectors | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) Education |
URL | http://www.ucl.ac.uk/star |
Description | This grant is finished but this section can be updated at a later date if details required. - Media interviews and press releases - Artist Katie Paterson (on Leverhulme grant; PI: Lahav) presented her work in museums around the world , and artist Marie Kaus produced art work on dark energy, on display at UCL Observatory at Mill Hill |
First Year Of Impact | 2008 |
Sector | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
Impact Types | Cultural |
Description | Advance ERC grant |
Amount | € 2,400,000 (EUR) |
Funding ID | FP7/291329 |
Organisation | European Research Council (ERC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | Belgium |
Start | 04/2012 |
End | 04/2018 |
Title | Optics and statistical methods |
Description | - designing optical corrector for wide field multi object spectroscopy - developing statistics of cross correlations of imaging and spectroscopic surveys (Kirk et al.) - developing methods for selecting candidates of emission lines galaxies from imaging surveys |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Year Produced | 2014 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | See above |
Description | press release and interview |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | a press release on DESI (which succeeded DESpec) Interviewed in at article on DESI in Physics Today (Oct 2016) |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |