Related papers: ACCESS: Enabling an Improved Flux Scale for Astrop…
Breakthroughs in physics and astrophysics are often driven by technological advances, with the recent detection of gravitational waves being one such example. This white paper focuses upon how improved astrometric and spectroscopic…
In a previous paper, we demonstrated a single-rung method for measuring cosmological distances in active galactic nuclei (AGN) that can be used from low redshift (z < 0.1) to high redshift (z > 3). This method relies on the assumption that…
Detecting the change of a cosmological object's redshift due to the time evolution of the Universal expansion rate is an ambitious experiment that will be attempted with future telescope facilities. In this paper, we describe the…
The achievable level of precision on photospheric abundances of stars is a major limiting factor on investigations of exoplanet host star characteristics, the chemical histories of star clusters, and the evolution of the Milky Way and other…
A new method is proposed for directly measuring the expansion rate of the universe through very precise measurement of the fluence of extremely stable sources. The method is based on the definition of the luminosity distance and its change…
Abridged: The golden age of astrophysics is upon us with both grand discoveries (extra-solar planets, dark matter, dark energy) and precision cosmology. Fundamental understanding of the working of stars and galaxies is within reach, thanks…
A huge amount of good quality data converges towards the picture of a spatially flat universe undergoing the today observed phase of accelerated expansion. This new observational trend is commonly addressed as Precision Cosmology. Despite…
A huge amount of good quality astrophysical data converges towards the picture of a spatially flat universe undergoing the today observed phase of accelerated expansion. This new observational trend is commonly addressed as Precision…
Recent astronomical observations indicate that the Universe is presently almost flat and undergoing a period of accelerated expansion. Basing on Einstein's general relativity all these observations can be explained by the hypothesis of a…
We propose a tunable laser-based satellite-mounted spectrophotometric and absolute flux calibration system, to be utilized by ground- and space-based telescopes. As spectrophotometric calibration may play a significant role in the accuracy…
A web of interlocking observations has established that the expansion of the Universe is speeding up and not slowing, revealing the presence of some form of repulsive gravity. Within the context of general relativity the cause of cosmic…
Cosmological observations in the new millennium have dramatically increased our understanding of the Universe, but several fundamental questions remain unanswered. This topical group report describes the best opportunities to address these…
The homogeneous expansion history H(z) of our universe measures only kinematic variables, but cannot fix the underlying dynamics driving the recent acceleration: cosmographic measurements of the homogeneous universe, are consistent with…
The "standard" model of cosmology is founded on the basis that the expansion rate of the universe is accelerating at present --- as was inferred originally from the Hubble diagram of Type Ia supernovae. There exists now a much bigger…
The Supernova / Acceleration Probe (SNAP) is a proposed space-based experiment designed to study the dark energy and alternative explanations of the acceleration of the Universe's expansion by performing a series of complementary…
We discuss the testable predictions of a phenomenological model in which the accelerated expansion of the universe is the result of the action of a non-gravitational force field, rather than the effect of a negative-pressure dark-energy…
Many techniques for measuring neutron star radii rely on absolute flux measurements in the X-rays. As a result, one of the fundamental uncertainties in these spectroscopic measurements arises from the absolute flux calibrations of the…
While the near-infrared wavelength regime is becoming more and more important for astrophysics there is a marked lack of spectrophotometric standard star data that would allow the flux calibration of such data. Furthermore, flux calibrating…
Under the assumption that they are standard(isable) candles, the lightcurves of Type Ia supernovae have been analyzed in the framework of the standard Friedmann-Lema\^itre-Robertson-Walker cosmology to conclude that the expansion rate of…
ATLAS (Astrophysics Telescope for Large Area Spectroscopy) is a concept for a NASA probe-class space mission. It is the spectroscopic follow-up mission to WFIRST, boosting its scientific return by obtaining deep NIR & MIR slit spectroscopy…