Designing the next generation of Dark Energy surveys
by
David Parkinson(Sussex)
→
Europe/Stockholm
FA32
FA32
Description
Current observations have continued to confirm that the expansion of the
universe is accelerating, driven by some mysterious force we call the
Dark Energy. The simplest model the Dark Energy is Einstein's
cosmological constant, but there are alternatives, including scalar
field models (quintessence) and modifications of gravity on large
scales. The next generation of large-scale surveys will attempt to
distinguish between these different models, and have defined a Figure of
Merit that quantifies their ability to do this. In this talk we will
discuss the use of the FoM in designing future surveys, and argue that
most implementations are not rigorous enough to fully consider the range
of possible outcomes. Only a fully Bayesian approach to future
exploration encodes the full uncertainty of future experiments.
