Large structures of the Universe - Dark matter

From cosmic microwave background radiation temperature fluctuations to filaments, voids, and superclusters of galaxies we try to map (and study) the distribution of mass in space

At this point astrophysicists are certain that galaxies are not uniformly distributed in space. The observed large scale structure evolves with time, and depends both on cosmological parameters and on the formation and evolution of galaxies.

In our department we are using the two-point correlation function to trace the dependence of large scale structure on galaxy properties such as luminosity, color, and stellar mass. Using galaxy clustering we determine the average dark matter halo mass of a given galaxy population, connect observed galaxy populations at different epochs, and, in a longer term, constrain cosmological parameters and galaxy evolution models. Moreover, we are focused on the early epochs of galaxy formation - using large high-redshift surveys such as VIMOS Ultra Deep Survey (VUDS) and VIMOS Public Extragalactic Redshift Survey (VIPERS).