Weak Gravitational Lensing from the Ground, the Stratosphere, and Space
Jacqueline McCleary (Northeastern University)

The standard model of cosmology has successfully explained astrophysical observations as diverse as anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background, baryon acoustic oscillations, and the flatness of galaxy rotation curves. A key phenomenon within this framework is weak gravitational lensing, which describes the small distortions of more distant galaxies due to the gravitational influence of intervening matter. Gravitational lensing is thus a direct probe of all matter, dark and baryonic, offering insights into the universe's total mass density and the clustering amplitude of cosmic structure. In this seminar, I will describe three very different campaigns to measure weak gravitational lensing signal from the ground (LoVoCCS), in the stratosphere (SuperBIT), and from space (COSMOS-Web). The discussion will focus on the unique features of each of these observational programs and what they could ultimately contribute to our evolving understanding of dark matter's role in structure formation.

Norbert Werner (Masaryk University - Department of Theoretical Physic and Astrophysics, Brno, Czech Republic)

Everyone is Welcome!
ACTUAL TIME: 10:10–10:55 a.m.