Non-linear cosmological structure formation

Alexander Mead (UBC)

January 25, 2016

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Abstract: Cosmological weak gravitational lensings surveys use the correlated distortions of galaxy shapes to infer properties of the matter distribution in the Universe. In principle, these measurements can then be used to constrain models of the accelerated expansion, to infer the neutrino mass, and to learn about baryonic feedback processes. However, the interpretation of weak lensing data is complicated by the fact that non-linear structure along the line-of-sight contributes to the lensing signal. In this talk I will discuss how to model the non-linear matter distribution using N-body simulations and analytical techniques.