Related papers: Hubble Diagram Dispersion From Large-Scale Structu…
The luminosity-redshift relation of cosmological standard candles provides information about the relative energy composition of our Universe. In particular, the observation of type Ia supernovae up to redshift of z~2 indicate a universe…
The standard model of cosmology is based on the hypothesis that the Universe is spatially homogeneous and isotropic. When interpreting most observations, this cosmological principle is applied stricto sensu: the light emitted by distant…
Photon geodesics are calculated in a swiss-cheese model, where the cheese is made of the usual Friedmann-Robertson-Walker solution and the holes are constructed from a Lemaitre-Tolman-Bondi solution of Einstein's equations. The observables…
Recent extensive, multi-color deep surveys of galaxies open a possibility to get observational estimation of sizes for the largest structures in the Universe. Photometric redshift accuracy (about 0.03(1+z)) allows directly study clustering…
I discuss and illustrate the development of large-scale structure in the Universe, emphasising in particular the physical processes and cosmological parameters that most influence the observationally accessible aspects of structure at large…
Dark energy observations may be explained within general relativity using an inhomogeneous Hubble-scale depression in the matter density and accompanying curvature, which evolves naturally out of an Einstein-de Sitter (EdS) model. We…
We study the fluctuations in luminosity distance due to gravitational lensing produced both by galaxy halos and large scale voids. Voids are represented via a "Swiss cheese" model consisting of a \LambdaCDM Friedman-Robertson-Walker…
We use the largest sample to date of spectroscopic SN Ia distances and redshifts to look for evidence in the Hubble diagram of large scale outflows caused by local voids suggested to exist at z<0.15. Our sample combines data from the…
The large scale distribution of galaxies in the universe displays a complex pattern of clusters, super-clusters, filaments and voids with sizes limited only by the boundaries of the available samples. A quantitative statistical…
A local void in the globally Friedmann-Robertson-Walker cosmological model with the critical density ($\Omega_{0}=1$) is studied. The inhomogeneity is described using a Lema\^{\i}tre-Tolman-Bondi solution for a spherically symmetric…
On small scales the observable Universe is highly inhomogeneous, with galaxies and clusters forming a complex web of voids and filaments. The optical properties of such configurations can be quite different from the perfectly smooth…
We investigate the distance-redshift relation in the simple void model. As discussed by Moffat and Tatarski, if the observer stays at the center of the void, the observed Hubble parameter is not so different from the background Hubble…
Even in a universe that is homogeneous on large scales, local density fluctuations can imprint a systematic signature on the cosmological inferences we make from distant sources. One example is the effect of a local under-density on…
A wide range of large scale observations hint towards possible modifications on the standard cosmological model which is based on a homogeneous and isotropic universe with a small cosmological constant and matter. These observations, also…
The three-dimensional distribution of astronomical objects observed in redshift space significantly differs from the true distribution since the distance to each object cannot be determined by its redshift $z$ only; for $z \ll 1$ the…
I describe a new approach (developed in collaboration with D.E. Holz) to calculating the statistical distributions for magnification, shear, and rotation of images of cosmological sources due to gravitational lensing by mass inhomogeneities…
A mildly inhomogeneous universe with a cosmological constant may look like it contains evolving dark energy. We show that could be the case by modelling the inhomogeneities and their effects in three different ways: as clumped matter…
Recently there have been suggestions that the Type Ia supernova data can be explained using only general relativity and cold dark matter with no dark energy. In "Swiss cheese" models of the Universe, the standard Friedmann-Robertson-Walker…
In order to estimate the effects of local structure on the Hubble parameter we calculate the low-redshift expansion for $H(z)$ and $\frac{\delta H}{H}$ for an observer at the center of a spherically symmetric matter distribution in presence…
These lectures deal with our current knowledge of the matter distribution in the universe, focusing on how this is studied via the large-scale structure seen in galaxy surveys. We first assemble the necessary basics needed to understand the…