Rachel Mandelbaum

Princeton University

Insights into Galaxy Formation and Cosmology from Weak Lensing

Gravitational lensing is a convenient tool for observing the total matter content of the universe, including dark matter. Given the claim of modern cosmology that the majority of the matter in the universe is dark, lensing will be a critical part of future observational and theoretical efforts in cosmology. I will begin with an introduction to statistical weak lensing observations, including the role they currently play in galaxy formation and cosmology research, and what they may eventually contribute in the future. Then, I will describe an application of lensing combined with other probes of large-scale structure that may be used to constrain cosmological model parameters, while also learning about the galaxy population used for the study. This application is useful already in existing large surveys such as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), and should also play an important role in planned future surveys such as the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST).