Measuring dark energy using the WiggleZ survey

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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/209554

Title: Measuring dark energy using the WiggleZ survey
Author(s): Blake, Chris
Abstract: The WiggleZ Survey team has developed the method of measuring the scale of the Universe and the dark energy. This method uses as its measuring stick a standard ruler to measure the dark energy. The method demonstrates that electrons and nuclei combine to form atoms in a process known to astronomers as recombination and the sound waves are silenced when the Universe has cooled sufficiently. The separations of a very large number of pairs of galaxies needs to be measured to apply the ruler, and this is achieved by constructing a large-scale, three-dimensional map of the galaxy distribution by carrying out a large galaxy survey. This can be realized by measuring the spectra of a large number of galaxies, and using the spectra to measure the 'redshift' or recession velocity of each galaxy, which indicates its distance in three-dimensional space.
Publication type: Journal article
Source: Australian Physics, Vol. 48, no. 5 (2011), pp. 149-153
Publication year: 2011
FOR Code(s): 0105 Mathematical Physics
Keyword(s): Dark energy; Measurements; Universe
Publisher: Australian Institute of Physics
ISSN: 1036-3831
Publisher URL: http://www.aip.org.au/content/publications