O ressabiamento programado

Pois é ... depois de uma longa ausência de ressabiamentos, aqui fica o ressabiamento programado para o proximo ano...

Master Degree in Astronomy - 2007/2008
Department of Applied Mathematics - Faculty of Sciences University of Porto

Dissertation: Project Proposal

Title: Structure Formation Probes of Dark Energy

Abstract: In recent years a confluence of different observational sources, mainly the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation, galaxy redshift surveys and Type Ia Supernovae obser- vations), have put in evidence that we live in an Universe in an accelerated phase of expansion and dominated (about 70% at the present) by a form of dark energy of unknown nature [1,2,3]. This energy defies our understanding of the Universe, and raises most important challenges to particle physics and relativity. Traditionally, dark energy has been associated to a cosmological constant but its initial condition fine tune problems and implications to particle physics, have rapidly lead to the development of a plethora of more sophisticated models (ranging from using quintessence scalar fields to modified theories of gravity) to describe the dynamical properties of dark energy. Despite this, the nature of dark energy remains a mystery and possesses a most genuine potential to produce what may be an important revolution in physical sciences. A present most interesting observational challenge is to investigate whether large scale struc- ture (LSS) observations can help to distinguish between different cosmological scenarios of dark energy. The objective of this project is to study the effect of dark energy in the clustering prop- erties of matter, using both analytical and numerical simulation methods (see eg [4,5]), to allow comparison with observations. The study will focus on the analysis of simulated galaxy clusters, the largest gravitationally bound objects in the Universe [6], whose potential to constrain dark energy models is going to be assessed by a new generation of multi-waveband experiments, such as the ESA XMM-Newton and Planck Surveyor satellites.

Relevant references:
1. Spergel et al., 2003, ApJS, 148, 175
2. Eisenstein et al, 2005, ApJ, 633, 560
3. Riess et al., 2004, ApJ, 607, 665
4. Nunes, da Silva, Aghanim, 2006, A&A, 450, 899
5. Kay, et al, 2007, MNARS, 377, 317
6. Bertschinger, 1985, ApJS, 58, 39

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