Fall 2008 Colloquia
 |
Henk HoekstraLeiden UniversityNetherlands |
| Weak Lensing by Large Scale Structure |
| November 10, 2008, 4PM, Thornton 411 |
Intervening structures in the universe give rise to small distortions in the shapes of distant galaxies. By measuring this tiny coherent signal, we can study the mass distribution in the universe directly, without relying on baryonic tracers. This makes weak lensing by large- scale structures a powerful probe of cosmology and a promising tool to constrain the properties of dark energy. I will review the topic of "cosmic shear" and discuss how the signal is extracted from the data. I will present some recent results and discuss future directions. |
