Related papers: Large Scale Velocity Fields Present and Future: Ma…
Supernova (SN) rates are a potentially powerful diagnostic of star formation history (SFH), metal enrichment, and SN physics, particularly in galaxy clusters with their deep, metal-retaining potentials, and simple SFH. However, a…
I present here a review of Large-Scale Structure (LSS) studies using clusters of galaxies. First, I re-evaluate the `pros' and `cons' of using clusters for such studies, especially in this era of large galaxy redshift surveys. Secondly, I…
We study the globular cluster (GC) populations of 21 giant elliptical galaxies in 19 Abell clusters. This method, applied here primarily in the R band, is based on the surface brightness fluctuations technique of extragalactic distance…
(Shortened) We construct a subsample of the Lauer & Postman (LP) brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) sample which comprises 64 Abell/ACO clusters with X-ray luminosities from ROSAT. We find that both BCG metric luminosities and residuals from…
We present the composite luminosity function (hereafter LF) of galaxies for 81 Abell clusters studied in our survey of the Northern Hemisphere, using DPOSS data processed by the CRoNaRio collaboration. The derived LF is very accurate due to…
We present observations of the first two supernovae discovered with the recently installed Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) on the Hubble Space Telescope. The supernovae were found in Wide Field Camera images of the Hubble Deep Field North…
We review the use of peculiar velocities of galaxies as a probe of cosmological models. We put particular emphasis on comparison of the peculiar velocity and density fields, focussing on the discrepancies between various recent analyses. We…
Strong gravitationally lensed supernovae (glSNe) are a powerful probe to obtain a measure of the expansion rate of the Universe, but they are also extremely rare. To date, only two glSNe with multiple images strongly lensed by galaxies have…
We present a comparison of Abell and APM clusters of galaxies as tracers of the large scale structure of the Universe. We investigate selection functions of both cluster catalogs. We show that the supercluster-void network can be traced…
We study the large-scale velocity fields traced by galaxy clusters in numerical simulations of a box of side 960 $h^{-1}$ Mpc, and compare them with available data on real clusters. In order to test the reliability of the simulations, which…
Type Ia Supernovae hold great promise to measure the cosmic deceleration. The diversity observed among these explosions, however, complicates their ability to measure cosmological parameters considerably. The comparison of near and distant…
We present some useful ways to visualize the nature of dark energy and the effects of the accelerating expansion on cosmological quantities. Expansion probes such as Type Ia supernovae distances and growth probes such as weak gravitational…
We analyze a set of 89 Type Ia supernovae (SN Ia) that have both optical and near-infrared (NIR) photometry to derive distances and construct low redshift ($z < 0.04$) Hubble diagrams. We construct mean light curve (LC) templates using a…
We study density cusps in the center of clusters of galaxies to reconcile X-ray mass estimates with gravitational lensing masses. For various mass density models with cusps we compute X-ray surface brightness distribution, and fit them to…
The dispersion in the peak luminosities of high redshift type Ia supernovae will change with redshift due to gravitational lensing. This lensing is investigated with an emphasis on the prospects of measuring it and separating it from other…
We have measured the rest-frame B,V, and I-band light curves of a high-redshift type Ia supernova (SN Ia), SN 1999Q (z=0.46), using HST and ground-based near-infrared detectors. A goal of this study is the measurement of the color excess,…
We analyze the cosmic peculiar velocity field as traced by a sample of 1184 spiral, elliptical and S0 galaxies, grouped in 704 objects. We perform a statistical analysis, by calculating the bulk flow, Cosmic Mach Number and velocity…
Using three magnified Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) detected behind CLASH clusters, we perform a first pilot study to see whether standardizable candles can be used to calibrate cluster mass maps created from strong lensing observations. Such…
Joint analyses of the large-scale distribution of galaxies, and their motions under the gravitational influence of this density field, allow powerful tests of the cosmological model, including measurement of the growth rate of cosmic…
In this introductory talk I give an elementary overview of the development, current status, and near term outlook for three probes of large scale structure; galaxy clustering, bulk flows and weak lensing observations.