Multi-probe cluster cosmology analyses with photometric surveys
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- The universe we live in is expanding faster and faster. This phenomenon called cosmic acceleration is one of the most puzzling cosmological discoveries in the past 25 years: even the least exotic explanation requires a new pervasive energy component in our universe (called dark energy). Despite the mysterious nature of dark energy, a model ($\Lambda$CDM) based on Einstein's general relativity, a cosmological constant (a specific form of dark energy), and slowly moving dark matter, seems to be able to describe a variety of observations from the high- to low-redshift universe. To understand the nature of dark energy and to test the $\Lambda$CDM paradigm, ambitious cosmological surveys, such as the Dark Energy Survey (DES), the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), the Rubin Observatory's Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), and the Roman Space Telescope, aim to precisely and robustly measure cosmic structure and its evolution via various cosmological probes, such as weak gravitational lensing, galaxy clustering, and other techniques. Combining multiple cosmological probes (known as multi-probe analyses) provides precise and robust cosmological constraints. Galaxy clustering, weak gravitational lensing, and abundances of galaxy clusters each are sensitive to different aspects of cosmic structure formation and are affected by different astrophysical and observational uncertainties. Thus, their combination is expected to be more precise and robust than any of the probe alone. Among these probes, the abundances and spatial distribution of galaxy clusters, which are associated with the highest peaks in the matter density field, provide powerful probes of cosmic structure and its evolution. This thesis presents original research that improves our understandings of the universe by observations of galaxy clusters. In the three self-contained projects, I (1) develop and validate methods for combining cluster abundances and two-point correlation functions, (2) perform the first blind cosmology analysis on combining cluster abundances, weak gravitational lensing, and galaxy clustering using data taken in the first season (DES-Y1) of the Dark Energy Survey, and (3) quantify the connections between red galaxies and their host dark matter halos by modeling luminosity functions of galaxies in galaxy clusters. While these three projects have already advanced our understandings of the cosmos, they also serve as an example of how one can use millions of clusters expected to be detected with the upcoming surveys in 2020s to improve our knowledge of the universe. These opportunities are also discussed in this thesis.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic resource; remote; computer; online resource |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Place | California |
| Place | [Stanford, California] |
| Publisher | [Stanford University] |
| Copyright date | 2021; ©2021 |
| Publication date | 2021; 2021 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | To, Chun-Hao |
|---|---|
| Degree supervisor | Wechsler, Risa H. (Risa Heyrman) |
| Thesis advisor | Wechsler, Risa H. (Risa Heyrman) |
| Thesis advisor | Allen, Steven W. (Steven Ward) |
| Thesis advisor | Roodman, Aaron J. (Aaron Jay), 1964- |
| Degree committee member | Allen, Steven W. (Steven Ward) |
| Degree committee member | Roodman, Aaron J. (Aaron Jay), 1964- |
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Physics |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|---|
| Genre | Text |
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Chun-Hao To. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Physics. |
| Thesis | Thesis Ph.D. Stanford University 2021. |
| Location | https://purl.stanford.edu/sp774ty2819 |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2021 by CHUN-HAO TO
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
Also listed in
Loading usage metrics...