Research

We seek to answer fundamental questions about the Universe. This includes seeking to understand the nature of Dark Energy and Dark Matter, investigating the initial conditions for the formation of cosmic structures, and testing general relativity on the largest cosmic scales. We do this by incorporating a broad range of expertise in observations, data analysis, survey planning, software development and theoretical interpretation.

Over the past few decades, cosmology has been the object of remarkable progress. Nevertheless, several fundamental questions about the nature of the Universe remain unanswered, representing some of the most pressing problems in fundamental physics today. These open issues include:

• What is the nature of Dark Energy and Dark Matter, which together make up 96% of the energy density of the Universe?
• What are the initial conditions in the early Universe, which seeded the formation structures in the Universe?
• Is Einstein’s theory of general relativity, our current theory of gravity, valid on the largest cosmological scales?

To answer these questions, a number of large cosmological surveys are being planned. These surveys will provide deep insights into the unknown ingredients of the cosmological model through measurements of several cosmological probes, such as the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), galaxy redshift surveys, weak gravitational lensing, supernovae and galaxy clusters.