Unlocking the potential of weak gravitational lensing to study the Dark Universe with Rubin
by
Zoom
Recorded seminar: https://stanford.zoom.us/rec/play/9UfVyUKkDafYhaN8sBZ-SRqhlKATHfx43MqOt5jt5vJO83VPCwwvm-T9KIEDh8dB_yv_C7P04m755GsS.mlTvkBSnWrSzj5gi?continueMode=true
Cosmology is at the dawn of a data-rich era with the Vera C. Rubin Observatory (Rubin). Experiments like this probe both the evolution of the structure of the Universe, and it’s accelerated expansion — dark matter and dark energy. When their findings are compared to those from experiments of the cosmic microwave background, which tests the Universe at just 300kyears after the Big Bang, it creates an unprecedented test of the standard cosmological model across cosmic time. Now, twenty years after the first detections of weak gravitational lensing, galaxy surveys have made strides in extracting this percent-level signal and are placing impressive constraints on our understanding of the Universe. As the statistical power grows, ensuring the robustness of lensing surveys requires meticulous understanding, characterising and controlling of both the observational and astrophysical systematics. With the Dark Energy Survey as a test-bed, I will demonstrate how the success of these complex analyses requires an experience of, and leadership across, many disparate studies. I will present a vision for harnessing Rubin data, in tandem with other experiments, to understand dark energy and dark matter in the coming decades.