AST-0506752
Stubbs
One of today's most pressing open issues is to understand the nature of the dark energy apparently responsible for the accelerating expansion of the Universe. This project will carry out a one hundred square degree multi-band optical survey of the southern sky, in conjunction with even deeper images of smaller fields, coordinated with a millimeter-wave survey that will map the cosmic microwave background (CMB) to detect galaxy clusters out to moderate redshifts. These coordinated surveys will enable the most precise cosmological study to date with galaxy clusters, and will enable complementary studies of the dark energy using supernova distances, cosmic shear, and the galaxy power spectrum. This research will use the NSF-supported Blanco telescope at the Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory, and the privately supported Magellan telescope, both operational in Chile, and the CMB data will come from the NSF-funded South P...
