Related papers: Bias and scatter in the Hubble diagram from cosmol…
The Hubble diagram is one of the cornerstones of observational cosmology. It is usually analysed assuming that, on average, the underlying relation between magnitude and redshift matches the prediction of a…
We consider the effects of large structures in the Universe on the Hubble diagram. This problem is treated non-linearly by considering a Swiss Cheese model of the Universe in which under-dense voids are represented as negatively curved…
The increasing precision in the determination of the Hubble parameter has reached a per cent level at which large-scale cosmic flows induced by inhomogeneities of the matter distribution become non-negligible. Here we use large-scale…
Starting from a recently proposed framework for the evaluation of the cosmological averages, we evaluate the higher-order moments for the distribution of a given observable. Then, we explicitly discuss the case of the Hubble-Lema\^itre…
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 consider the form of Hubble diagrams that would be constructed by observers in universes that are homogeneous but anisotropic, when averaged over suitably large length-scales. This is achieved by ray-tracing in different directions on…
The gravitationally-driven evolution of cold dark matter dominates the formation of structure in the Universe over a wide range of length scales. While the longest scales can be treated by perturbation theory, a fully quantitative…
Gravitational lensing will cause a dispersion in the Hubble diagram for high redshift sources. This effect will introduce a bias in the cosmological parameter determination using the distance-redshift relation for Type Ia supernovae. In…
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…
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…
Halos and galaxies are tracers of the underlying dark matter structures. While their bias is well understood in the case of a simple Universe composed dominantly of dark matter, the relation becomes more complex in the presence of massive…
Correctly interpreting observations of sources such as type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) require knowledge of the power spectrum of matter on AU scales - which is very hard to model accurately. Because under-dense regions account for much of the…
We study the biasing relation between dark-matter halos or galaxies and the underlying mass distribution, using cosmological $N$-body simulations in which galaxies are modelled via semi-analytic recipes. The nonlinear, stochastic biasing is…
Doppler lensing, a relativistic effect resulting from the peculiar velocities of galaxies along the line of sight, provides insight into the large-scale structure of the Universe. Relativistic simulations are essential for modeling Doppler…
Cosmological N-body simulations have been a major tool of theorists for decades, yet many of the numerical issues that these simulations face are still unexplored. This paper measures numerical biases in these large, dark matter-only…
The first objective of this thesis is to fill the lack in cosmology of a description on the past light cone: the null hypersurface on which observed signals propagate. Its second goal is to evaluate the importance of inhomogeneities in the…
The large-scale homogeneity and isotropy of the universe is generally thought to imply a well defined background cosmological model. It may not. Smoothing over structure adds in an extra contribution, transferring power from small scales up…
Time delay cosmography uses the arrival time delays between images in strong gravitational lenses to measure cosmological parameters, in particular the Hubble constant $H_0$. The lens models used in time delay cosmography omit dark matter…
In the current state of cosmology, where cosmological parameters are being measured to percent accuracy, it is essential to understand all sources of error to high precision. In this paper we present the results of a study of the local…
Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) offer a potential way to extend the Hubble diagram to very high redshifts and to constrain the nature of dark energy in a way complementary to distant type Ia supernovae. However, gravitational lensing systematically…