Related papers: The Case for Deep, Wide-Field Cosmology
Ongoing microlensing surveys have already yielded more than five hundred microlensing events, most of which have been identified in real-time. In this review I present the basic theory and observational status of these surveys. I highlight…
The acceleration of the cosmic expansion is a fundamental challenge to standard models of particle physics and cosmology. The new physics of dark energy may lie in the nature of gravity, the quantum vacuum, or extra dimensions. I give a…
The good agreement between large-scale observations and the predictions of the now-standard $\Lambda$CDM theory gives us hope that this will become a lasting foundation for cosmology. After briefly reviewing the current status of the key…
The nature of dark energy remains a profound mystery 20 years after the discovery of cosmic acceleration. A very high number density galaxy redshift survey over a wide area (HD GRS Wide) spanning the redshift range of 0.5<z<4 using the same…
How is the universe organized on large scales? How did this structure evolve from the unknown initial conditions of a rather smooth early universe to the present time? The answers to these questions will shed light on the cosmology we live…
The overwhelming majority of objects visible to LSST lie within the Galactic Plane. Though many previous surveys have avoided this region for fear of stellar crowding, LSST's spatial resolution combined with its state-of-the-art Difference…
The Wide-field Spectroscopic Telescope (WST) is proposed as a new facility dedicated to the efficient delivery of spectroscopic surveys. This white paper summarises the initial concept as well as the corresponding science cases. WST will…
Cosmology has come a long way from being based on a small number of observations to being a data-driven precision science. We discuss the questions "What is observable?", "What in the Universe is knowable?" and "What are the fundamental…
This article is the written version of the closing talk presented at the conference `A Century of Cosmology' held at San Servolo, Italy, in August 2007. I focus on the prospects of constraining fundamental physics from cosmological…
Systematic surveys of astronomical objects often lead to discoveries, but always provide invaluable information for statistical studies of well-defined samples. They also promote follow-up investigations of individual objects or classes.…
The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) Dark Energy Science Collaboration (DESC) will use five cosmological probes: galaxy clusters, large scale structure, supernovae, strong lensing, and weak lensing. This Science Requirements Document…
Complex systems throughout Nature display structures and functions that are built and maintained, at least in part, by optimal energies flowing through them--not specific, ideal values, rather ranges in energy rate density below which…
In this work we present a brief discussion about modified and extended cosmological models using current observational tests. We show that according to these astrophysical samples based in late universe measurements, theories like $f(R)$…
In this contribution we review the large body of work carried out over the past two decades to probe the dark matter in the local universe using redshift survey and peculiar velocity data. While redshift surveys have evolved rapidly over…
Cosmological surveys aim at answering fundamental questions about our Universe, including the nature of dark matter or the reason of unexpected accelerated expansion of the Universe. In order to answer these questions, two important…
Discoveries in the last few years have revolutionized our knowledge of the universe and our ideas of its ultimate fate. Measurements of the expansion of the universe show that it is not slowing down under normal gravity but accelerating due…
Ground and space-based sky surveys enable powerful cosmological probes based on measurements of galaxy properties and the distribution of galaxies in the Universe. These probes include weak lensing, baryon acoustic oscillations, abundance…
Over the last decades, observations with increasing quality have revolutionized our understanding of the general properties of the Universe. Questions posed for millenia by mankind about the origin, evolution and structure of the cosmos…
Astrophysics and cosmology are rich with data. The advent of wide-area digital cameras on large aperture telescopes has led to ever more ambitious surveys of the sky. Data volumes of entire surveys a decade ago can now be acquired in a…
Future dark energy space missions such as JDEM and EUCLID are being designed to survey the galaxy population to trace the geometry of the universe and the growth of structure, which both depend on the cosmological model. To reach the goal…