Our model for dark matter is incredibly successful despite its simplicity. But things get complicated when we try to understand galaxies, and actually the entire baryonic component of the Universe poses significant problems for theories of structure formation. A step forward in understanding how galaxies relate to dark matter can be made by looking at the clustering properties of galaxies. One statistical…
Tag: VIPERS
VIPERS: halfway to measuring 100,000 galaxy spectra
The VIPERS project is mapping the distribution of galaxies in the distant Universe. It uses the VIMOS spectrograph on the European Southern Observatory Very Large Telescope (ESO VLT) in Chile. By fall 2014, the programme will have measured nearly 100,000 galaxy spectra, each with a precise redshift measurement. Further reading VIPERS website http://vipers.inaf.it/ The VIMOS Public Extragalactic Redshift Survey (VIPERS): an…
VIPERS: A look halfway back in the life of the Universe
What did the Universe look like 7 billion years ago? VIPERS (the VIMOS Public Extragalactic Redshift Survey) is mapping the distribution of galaxies at redshift 1, an epoch when the Universe was half its present age. VIPERS is an ESO large project with an international team led by DarkLight investigator Luigi Guzzo. VIPERS observes a critical period in cosmic history when dark…