Investigating cosmic acceleration via cosmic structures in galaxy surveys

• Grant number: 19/03658-3
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: September 01, 2020
• End date: February 28, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Astronomy - Extragalactic Astrophysics
• Principal Investigator: Marcos Vinicius Borges Teixeira Lima
• Grantee: Marcos Vinicius Borges Teixeira Lima
• Host Institution: Instituto de Física (IF). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Eder Leonardo Duarte Perico

Abstract

Large scientic collaborations have been formed in search for explanations to questions still unanswered by the standard models of Physics and Cosmology. In particular, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-IV (SDSS-IV) and the Dark Energy Survey (DES) have measured optical data (spectroscopic and photometric) of galaxies, with the goal of investigating one of the main challenges of modern cosmology: the accelerated expansion of the Universe. In this project, we investigate how the characterization of cosmological structures allows us to study cosmic acceleration. We focus on the use of the angular power spectrum of galaxies for the detection of baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO), as well as on the self-consistent combination of galaxy clustering and lensing. The SDSS-IV and the DES have generated revolutionary catalogs and interesting scientic results. The next few years will be critical as both experiments will be collecting their last data sets and publishing their scientic results of higher impact. Our proposed work will allow for an effective and bold contribution from Brazilian scientists to important ongoing experiments, and simultaneously represent a much needed preparation for participation in future projects even more complex and ambitious, such as the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). (AU)