Understanding basic physics from the Large Scale Structure of the Universe

by Massimo Pietroni (INFN Padua)

Thursday 31 Jan 2013, 14:00 → 15:00 Europe/Berlin

HS2 [this time only, Physikerinnentag in HS3] (Physikdepartment)

The study of the Large Scale Structure (LSS) of the Universe will provide, in the near future, a wealth of information on the nature of Dark Matter and Dark Energy as well as on other key issues such as neutrino masses and the statistics of primordial perturbations. In order to compute the relevant observables at the necessary accuracy level, N-body numerical simulations require large computational times, which greatly restricts the domain of physical models that can be explored. I will review semi analytical methods, based on Eulerian perturbation theory, as a promising tool to study the LSS at small redshifts and at mildly nonlinear scales. These methods, besides greatly reducing computational times, are also more flexible than N-body simulations towards the exploration of non-standard cosmological scenarios.