Cosmology and the Large Scale Structure of the Universe

Cosmology is the science that studies the Universe as a physical entity and explores its overall properties, formation and evolution. During its very early stages, the Universe went through a phase of very rapid expansion (inflationary phase), which, among other things, created the initial fluctuations in the cosmological density field. These fluctuations have grown via gravitational instability -- initially alone and with hydro and radiative processes at later stages -- to create the enormous amount of complexity and diversity we currently see around us.

In order to understand the origin and evolution of the density fluctuations in the Universe, one has to address a wide range of topics. The research of a number of staff members at the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute is focused on addressing the following fundamental topics:

• The nature of the initial conditions from which structure has evolved.
• The physical processes that govern the evolution of structrue at each stage.
• The connection of structure formation to the background cosmology and how this connection could be used.
• The morphology and statistical properties of the Large Scale Structure of the Universe
• The nature and amount of the dark matter and the dark energy - which are the dominant components of the energy-density - in the Universe?
• When and how the baryonis component (normal matter) have started playing a prominant role in structure formation in the Universe (Epoch of Rreionization)?
• Can we detect the influence of first stars and miniquasars, i.e., the Epoch of Reionization, with the future Radio telescopes, especially LOFAR?
• Modified Newtonian Dynamics as alternative to the Dark Matter hypothesis.

The cosmology staff members at the institute are particularly focused on the following topics:

• Evolution of the Large Scales Structure (van de Weygaert, Zaroubi)
• Morphology of the Large Scale Structure (van de Weygaert)
• Cosmic Microwave Background statitstics (van de Weygaert, Zaroubi)
• Radiative Transfer in the high redshift Universe (Zaroubi)
• Formation of First stars and miniquasars (Spaans, Zaroubi)
• The LOFAR Epoch of Reionization Project (de Bruyn, Koopmans, Zaroubi)
• Modified Newtonian gravity (Sanders)

Faculty active in these areas:

• A.G. de Bruyn
• L.V.E. Koopmans
• R.H. Sanders
• R. van de Weygaert
• S. Zaroubi

webpages contain more detailed information on the specific research topics.