WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey
The WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey is a large-scale astronomical redshift survey that was carried out on the 3.9 metre Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) at the Siding Spring Observatory, New South Wales between August 2006 and January 2011. The name stems from the measurement of baryon acoustic oscillations in the distribution of galaxies (“the baryon wiggles”).[1]
The survey measured the
The work was carried out by a core team of 14 Australia-based astronomers led by Chris Blake and including Sarah Brough, Warrick Couch, Karl Glazebrook, Greg Poole, Tamara Davis, Michael Drinkwater, Russell Jurek, Kevin Pimbblet, Matthew Colless, Rob Sharp, Scott Croom, Michael Pracy, David Woods, Barry Madore, Chris Martin and Ted Wyder. The work was done in conjunction with collaborators in Toronto, Canada and at the California Institute of Technology and Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the United States.
The underlying purpose of the survey was to improve understanding of the phenomenon of "dark energy", proposed as the mechanism for the observed increasing rate of expansion of the universe, contradicting the traditional theories of gravitational attraction.[3] The survey results can be used in conjunction with measurements of Cosmic microwave background (CMB) to provide more accurate estimates of the composition of the universe. The results will also test current theories of gravity by mapping the growth of structure with redshift. Thirdly, detailed analysis of star-formation rates, environments, morphologies and luminosity functions will provide information on galaxy evolution.
The WiggleZ project was succeeded by the
References
- ^ "WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey". Retrieved 20 December 2016.
- ^ "The WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey". Oxford Journals. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
- ^ Dayton, Leigh (20 May 2011). "After study of 240,000 galaxies, dark energy comes to light". The Australian. News Limited Australia. p. 3.