Cosmology with the next generation of surveys: quasars, supernovas, galaxy clusters and gravitational lensing

• Grant number: 10/19612-8
• Support type: Scholarships abroad - Research
• Effective date (Start): February 01, 2011
• Effective date (End): December 23, 2011
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Astronomy - Extragalactic Astrophysics
• Principal researcher: Luis Raul Weber Abramo
• Grantee: Luis Raul Weber Abramo
• Host: Bhuvnesh Jain
• Home Institution: Instituto de Física (IF). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Research place: University of Pennsylvania, United States

Abstract

The goals of this proposal are related to applications of cosmology surveys (i.e., catalogs of galaxies, quasars and/or supernovas.) The research projects include studies of large-scale structure, supernova science, quasars, gravitational lensing and modified gravity.My main host at the University of Pennsylvannia (UPenn) will be Prof. Bhuvnesh Jain, co-chair of the Center for Particle Cosmology at the Department of Physics and Astronomy, and a leader in the subject of gravitational lensing. One of the projects that I will be working on at UPenn is already under way, and is being conducted in collaboration with Prof. Masao Sako and my Ph.D. student, Henrique S. Xavier (who will be making part of his Ph.D. with Prof. Sako in 2011, with a CAPES fellowship.) In this project we are exploring how to build a low-redshift catalog of supernovas by adjusting the cadence and observing strategy of the forthcoming narrow-band galaxy survey JPAS, and we are studying how such a catalog can help control the systematic uncertainties that are already the main limiting factor for cosmological constraints from supernovas. Other projects include also studying large-scale structure with quasars, and in particular the strong lensing of quasars. For this project, as well as for the other projects detailed in this document, I expect to count with the expertise not only of Prof. Jain, but also of Profs. Gary Bernstein, Adam Litz, Masao Sako, Ravi Sheth and Mark Trodden, all of the Department of Physics and Astronomy. The concentration of young and leading researchers at the University of Pennsylvannia is ideal to help me develop these projects and make my transition from more theoretical aspects of Cosmology into Astrophysics. (AU)