Related papers: Weak lensing: Dark Matter, Dark Energy and Dark Gr…
The recent discovery of "dark energy" has challenged Einstein's general theory of relativity as a complete model for our macroscopic universe. From a theoretical view, the challenge is even stronger: general relativity clearly does not…
I consider the relation of explanations for the observed data to testability in the following contexts: observational and experimental detection of dark matter; observational and experimental detection of dark energy or a cosmological…
Cosmology is living through fascinating times, where new observations from ground and space telescopes are questioning the established paradigm, the so-called Lambda Cold Dark Matter model. The particle nature of Dark Matter is severely…
The most simple observed cases of gravitational lensing of distant quasars and galaxies by galaxies and clusters of galaxies are used to test Einstein's theory of General Relativity and Newtonian Gravity over galactic and intergalactic…
Dark matter represents currently an outstanding problem in both cosmology and particle physics. In this review we discuss the possible explanations for dark matter and the experimental observables which can eventually lead to the discovery…
We point out that the physics at the extreme IR---cosmology---might provide tests of the physics of the extreme UV---the Weak Gravity Conjecture. The current discrepancies in the determination of $H_0$ may hint at a modification of…
We study gravitational lensing of the cosmic neutrino background. This signal is undetectable for the foreseeable future, but there is a rich trove of information available. At least some of the neutrinos from the early universe will be…
The problem of dark energy is briefly reviewed in both theoretical and observational aspects. In the theoretical aspect, dark energy scenarios are classified into symmetry, anthropic principle, tuning mechanism, modified gravity, quantum…
A six parameter cosmological model, involving a vacuum energy density that is extremely tiny compared to fundamental particle physics scales, describes a large body of increasingly accurate astronomical data. In a first part of this brief…
In this talk I review some of the key questions that weak lensing observations of clusters can potentially answer, and sketch the progress that has been made to date in extracting quantitative estimates of masses and density profiles. A…
Astrometric weak gravitational lensing is a powerful probe of the distribution of matter on sub-Galactic scales, which harbor important information about the fundamental nature of dark matter. We propose a novel method that utilizes angular…
Cosmological arguments proving that the universe is dominated by invisible non-baryonic matter are reviewed. Possible physical candidates for dark matter particles are discussed. A particular attention is paid to non-compensated remnants of…
It is nowadays clear that General Relativity cannot be the definitive theory of Gravitation due to several shortcomings that come out both from theoretical and experimental viewpoints. At large scales (astrophysical and cosmological) the…
We study the sensitivity of weak lensing by large scale structures to the evolution of dark energy. We explore a 2-parameters model of dark energy evolution, inspired by tracking quintessence models. To this end, we compute the likelihood…
After exactly a century since the formulation of the general theory of relativity, the phenomenon of gravitational lensing is still an extremely powerful method for investigating in astrophysics and cosmology. Indeed, it is adopted to study…
The presence of dark energy in the Universe is inferred directly and indirectly from a large body of observational evidence. The simplest and most theoretically appealing possibility is the vacuum energy density (cosmological constant).…
Weak gravitational lensing of background galaxies offers an excellent opportunity to study the intervening distribution of matter. While much attention to date has focused on the two-point function of the cosmic shear, the three-point…
In these lectures we first briefly review the main observational facts which imply that most part of matter in the Universe is not visible and some recent intriguing experimental data which would point to a significant contribution to Omega…
I briefly review our current understanding of dark matter and dark energy. The first part of this paper focusses on issues pertaining to dark matter including observational evidence for its existence, current constraints and the `abundance…
These lecture notes aim to provide an introduction to dark matter from the perspective of astrophysics/cosmology. We start with a rapid overview of cosmology, including the evolution of the Universe, its thermal history and structure…