Eva-Maria Mueller
Linking fundamental physics to cosmological data with the large-scale structure of our Universe
Our Universe still holds many mysteries, from its earliest beginnings to its current accelerated expansion driven by dark energy. While studying the origin and evolution of our Universe is exciting by itself, we can also use our Universe as the largest laboratory we have to push our understanding of the laws of physics!
Today, one of the riches cosmological probes is the large-scale structure of our Universe. Galaxies are not equally distributed across the sky but cluster in particular patterns tracing the underlying density field. The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) is a new wide-field spectrograph at the Mayall telescope. DESI has started its 5-year survey mapping the 3D positions of tens of millions of galaxies across almost half the sky and has already produced the largest 3D map of our Universe. DESI will obtain order-of-magnitude improved measurements of the Universe’s accelerated expansion, leading to a revolutionary understanding of dark energy. The aim of this project is to make use of this new era of galaxy survey data to test the standard cosmological model and to look for new fundamental physics by analysing the large-scale structure in the distribution of galaxies.
This PhD project ranges from developing new analytical and statistical methods to constraining fundamental physics. You can set the emphasis on either the theoretical understanding of the underlying cosmological model or the hands-on data analysis side (or anything in between).
For more information/to apply for this project, please contact Eva-Maria Mueller.