Testing fundamental Physics with large cosmological surveys

Abstract

Cosmology is an exciting field that provides an enormous amount of precise data about the different properties of the cosmos. At the same time, our understanding of the Universe is based on a standard model that is troubled with deep theoretical uncertainties - the nature of dark energy and dark matter being examples of such open problems. In the standard cosmological model, called LCDM, roughly 70% of the energy density of the Universe is in the form of a cosmological constant, 25% in cold dissipationless dark matter and only 5% in the usual matter that we are made of large cosmological surveys of galaxies have become instrumental in testing the standard cosmological model as well as possible modifications thereof, such as models with dynamical dark energy, with a modified theory of gravity or different dark matter properties. This project aims at developing tools to test the standard cosmological model and its possible alternatives by participating and using data from two leading surveys that we are members of: the Dark Energy Survey (DES) and the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). (AU)