Université de GenèveDépartement de Physique ThéoriqueCAP Genève

Large-scale structure

Observations of the Universe show that, on megaparsec scales galaxies are not distributed homogeneously but rather arranged in a filamentary network, the most luminous of them residing at the nodes of this "cosmic web". In current cosmological models, the large-scale structure of the Universe is the result of tiny fluctuations generated during an inflationary phase and subsequently amplified by gravity. As these fluctuations grew nonlinearly, the baryons fell into the potential wells created by some unknown "cold" (non-relativistic) dark matter component to form stars and galaxies. Because the physics describing the nonlinear stage of galaxy formation is highly complex, numerical simulations have become an absolute must to study the large-scale distribution of galaxies. These simulations can follow the nonlinear collapse of baryons and dark matter over a large dynamical range.   

The large-scale structure of the Universe can strongly constrain viable cosmological scenarios. Weak lensing (distortions in the image of background galaxies induced by the matter distributed along the line-of-sight), galaxy clustering (number of galaxy pairs, triplets etc. in excess of random) and cluster counts (abundance of massive cluster of galaxies) are among the most powerful probes of the large-scale structure. When combined, they can shed light on the mystery of dark energy, the nature of dark matter and the origin of the Universe and its initial conditions.

Recent publications and presentations on this topic
Date: 15. February 2013
Members involved: Matteo Biagetti
Topics: Inflation, Large-scale structure
Type: Presentation
Date: 7. February 2013
Members involved: Antonio Riotto
Topics: Large-scale structure
Type: Publication
Date: 2. February 2013
Members involved: Vincent Desjacques, Antonio Riotto
Topics: Large-scale structure, Dark matter, Inflation
Type: Publication
Date: 18. January 2013
Members involved: Vincent Desjacques
Topics: Large-scale structure, General relativity, Dark matter
Type: Publication
Date: 15. January 2013
Members involved: Matteo Biagetti, Vincent Desjacques, Hideki Perrier, Antonio Riotto
Topics: Dark matter, Large-scale structure
Type: Publication
Date: 5. December 2012
Members involved: Vincent Desjacques
Topics: Large-scale structure, Dark matter
Type: Publication
Date: 20. November 2012
Members involved: Vincent Desjacques
Topics: Large-scale structure
Type: Publication
Date: 7. November 2012
Members involved: Daniel Figueroa
Topics: Gravitational waves, Inflation, Large-scale structure
Type: Presentation
Date: 5. October 2012
Members involved: Vincent Desjacques
Topics: Large-scale structure
Type: Publication
Date: 25. August 2012
Members involved: Vincent Desjacques
Topics: Large-scale structure, N-body simulations
Type: Publication

Pages

Address

Département de Physique Théorique
Université de Genève
24, quai Ernest Ansermet
1211 Genève 4
Switzerland
Directions & contact